Dancing with Fire
by Littlest Cinnaminion
Summary: Things I didn't see coming: Fang's brother. My family doubling in size. Finding other successful experiments. Meeting the Cullens. Falling in love with Fang. Defying the Volturi. And finally, me? Learning to dance hip hop? Yeah, interesting..." Max
1. Shadows in the crowd

**_I really missed all of you guys. I am very sorry about the entire thing of not updating in such a long time, but I have finally come back. Bad news though, the updates might take a bit longer seeing as now I am under a freaking magnifying glass since I'm doing badly in Spanish._**

**_Pssh, oh well. Like that's ever stopped me before._**

**_ANYWAYS! More bad news: my other story? 'Guilt, Epiphany, and Love'? I need some reviews. How the heck do you guys want it to go? Because I am suffering from a MAJOR case of writer's block with that story. So go on back, reread it, and give me some ideas! _**

**_This is my new piece of work, and you all better like it!! And review!!! Or I will hunt you down with a turkey drumstick and bang out 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' on your head while force feeding you green jello!! Yeah, I'm that evil._**

**_Quick note:_** "**Bold" is Max's thoughts**

_"Italics" is the Voice._

Regular speaking is with nothing added.

**_I am in italics, bold, and underlined._**

**_And so, DRUMROLL PLEASE!!!_**

**_-Off somewhere in the distance, a person beats a drum whilst eating popcorn-_**

**_ON WITH THE STORY!!!!_**

**_Crowd: HOORAY!!!_**

* * *

"_Maximum."_

I froze for a few seconds and sighed. Did I ever get a break?

"**Yeah? What is it now?" **Was he not the one who said that I was allowed to take a few minutes to rest now and then? Well, damn it, I wanted to rest now! No crazy stopping in the middle of a shopping mall because a Voice in your head is talking to you for me now, please!

I swear, I think I heard the Voice chuckle. Damn smart aleck.

"_I was just going to warn you about Itex. They are coming today, but not for you"._ Whacko voice in my head say what now?

"_You heard me. I managed to get that tidbit of information." _Really. Who the heck says tidbit anymore? _"There are some mutants in the area, actually the mall that you are in right now. They are trustworthy and the Erasers want their leader badly."_

Well that's some wonderful news to us. And not to them. "**How do you know that they are trustworthy? They could be random Erasers in better costumes than before!"**

_"Max, have I ever steered you wrong?"_ And then I felt the Voice's presence leave my mind. Does he/she/it know that any given actual direct answers to questions COULD BE HELPFUL?

Almost as soon as I thought that, I felt a hand on my shoulder and visibly tensed up. Then Fang's voice floated into my head. "Calm down. Voice again?"

I sighed and nodded. "How'd you know?"

A small chuckle escaped Fang's lips. "You practically froze in the middle of the aisle, and I could see the steam rolling out of your ears. It was pretty hard not to notice." Hehe. Oops. "For me anyway." He muttered. I wasn't sure whether or not I was supposed to hear that part.

We walked up to catch up with the rest of the Flock, and I passed a girl dressed entirely in black, sitting on the bench with a laptop in her lap. She looked about my age, but more like a female version of Fang than anything else. And I loved the leather cropped jacket she was wearing. "**Note to self, stop listening to Nudge rant about fashion."**

As soon as I said that, the girl smirked and closed her lap top. Her lips started moving in a countdown. "Three, two, one."

On cue, the lights started flashing and the fire alarm sounded. Looking dead at me, she said, "Showtime." And ran off in the other direction.

_"Like I said, Maximum, I have never steered you wrong."_

* * *

_**Did you like it?!?!?! I know I did. So stop rereading it and REVIEW ALREADY!! **_

**_The little button doesn't bite unless I say so!_**

**_Sincerely (yeah I missed these too),_**

Guy behind me on the Long Island railroad: If you have the right to say that Edward Cullen is hot, why can't I say that about Katy Perry? It's the same concept!

His girfriend and I: No. No, it's not.

Me: It's Edward Cullen.

Girlfriend: Versus Katy Perry.

Me: It just can't work.

**_A.K.A. angelz31_**


	2. Baseball bats and rescues

**_"Guess who's back, back, back_**

**_Back again, gain gain_**

**_Angelz back back back_**

**_Tell a friend friend friend"_**

**_OKAY!! Chappie 2! and a quick note:_**

_Max is in italics_

**Voice is in bold**

**_Also, _****_Fang, Iggy and Max are all 17 going on 18. _****_Nudge and Demon are 16. _****_Angel and Gazzy are twins at 9. _****_The age change was needed for later things._**

**_Speaking of which, the Cullens come in later in the story. So it starts out MaxRide, and ends Twilight and MaxRide._**

**_ON WITH THE STORY!!_**

* * *

Fang grabbed mine and Angel's hands, and we started running to the nearest exit. We were nearly there, when I got separated from them.

In other words, I tripped.

Damn floor. Why do you chose to love me now of all times?

I got up again, but I couldn't see Fang or Angel in the chaos. All of a sudden, this guy's breath is on my neck, and I froze. _He has a knife._

"Don't move, birdie." Crap. Eraser.

He had chosen the perfect time to try to capture me: the place was in complete chaos, and everyone was screaming. Everyone would hear me if I tried to scream, but no one would pay attention, thinking that I was screaming for the same reason that they were.

Double crap. _At least try to break free, Max._

Before I could do anything, though, an unfamiliar voice yelled out, "GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER, YOU CREEP!" _That sure as hell wasn't Ella. _And the Eraser standing behind me fell to the ground with a thud.

I spun around to see the same girl who was sitting on the bench with the computer before, only brandishing a baseball bat in the case the Eraser got up. _Yup, definitely not Ella. Interesting._

Without even a pause, she ran over to me, grabbed my arm, and whacking the Eraser in the head one more time, we took off running in the direction I think Fang and Angel went. My arm hurt from where she was gripping it, but I had more important things to worry about. _Like keeping up with this girl. She runs faster than Fang!_

We weaved and dodged through a lot of people, including fat men attempting to run with hot dogs, babies in strollers, and even this strange group of people with the same shirt that ready "Star Wars" on it and some sort of mask on their faces. We ran and ran and ran, until we finally reached the parking lot.

I was breathing heavily, and I turned to the girl. "Thanks."

She nodded once, and then wordlessly took off in the other direction. After about three seconds, I was tackled by Nudge. Here we go.

"MAX! Oh thank goodness you're okay. Fang and Angel lost you and we were so worried. Fang was pacing like mad and he was muttering to himself! But we couldn't hear anything, so it sounded like 'mye-mye-mye Max grumble-growl grumble-growl. Growl-gurgle hurt mumble stupid babble mumble.' So he was all emo, and we were all 'Max, miraculously appear from the sky!' and then I saw you and I was all 'Max!' and everyone else was all 'MAX?!' and then we all ran over here and I tackled you. Do you think I did a good tackle? But anyways, what happened and who was that kid? She looked about my age. Did you know her? Why was she dressed like Fang? Her hair is so black! And why did she have you? Was she from Itex? Can she be trusted? Did she attack you? Was she trying to save you? Why did you and Fa--?"

"NUDGE!!!" I yelled. She immediately quieted. "My ears, they bleed." I muttered to myself.

Next came Angel. "Max, I'm so sorry I lost you! I should have held on tighter, or something!"

I bent down to Angel's height, which wasn't that far down to bend anymore, and said, "Ange, it's okay. You tried to, but you couldn't. It's fine."

**Not everything is.**

Before I could wonder what the Voice meant by that, the rapidly emptying parking lot was filled with a loud gunshot, and then lots of shouting. I turned towards the sound to see the same girl running full speed away from the mall. About halfway through the parking lot, 4 more kids joined her, then 2 more, and they kept running until they got to the woods and disappeared from my view.

I saw what they were running from next.

A huge swarm of Erasers in human form were all marching straight in the direction the 7 kids were going. Behind them, I could see several Flyboys flanking their sides.

I looked off towards the woods and then looked back at the Erasers. Without a moment of thought, I took off towards the woods, hoping I wasn't making the wrong choice.

* * *

_**Wasn't it awesome?! I went through a lot of stuff getting that chapter up for you guys! And Nudge's rant was a lot of work! I want at least 7 reviews before I update!**_

**_Sincerely:_**

Ava's Dad: Alright girls, I'm going to get you out of the car.

-gets out, tries to open door. Car is locked-

Daisy, over the frantic pullings at the door handle: "Congratulations, Ava, your father has almost successfully broken into his own car.

Ava: Yup, that's my dad. And Daisy, it's not a car. It's "THE VAN". It must be said with capital letters, or you will be sued.

Me: Of course. Because what other object with wheels can be this impossible color of neon blue?

**_a.k.a jamminangelz31_**


	3. A talk and an explosion

**_Alright, I have got to admit. I had a lot more fun than usual writing this chapter. It's really fun writing Max's pov._**

**_Anyways, like I said before,_**

**_Max, Fang, and Iggy are all mid-17 (if that makes sense)_**

**_Nudge and Trace are mid-16._**

**_Gazzy and Angel are twins at 10._**

**_All the other kids are 16 too._**

**_Now, ON WITH THE STORY!!!_**

* * *

Somewhere in front of me, Gazzy yelled, "You know running through trees is a lot harder than I give it credit for!"

Iggy yelled from off to my right, "And you figure this out now?"

I sighed and yelled back to everyone,"Come on, guys! Keep running!" But I had to agree with Gazzy after falling for what was about the nineteenth time.

I could see the outlines of the other kids somewhere ahead of us, and I could hear them shooting back insults at the Erasers that were somewhere behind us to the right. They obviously had some experience running through the trees.

A few minutes later, Fang drew up beside me. "Why?"

You see, this is one of the things I hate about Fang. He always manages to find me in my less prepared states of mind. I mean, it helps sometimes, but I don't need him to try and undermine me! So since I had no straight answer for him (because I am fairly sure that "I have a good feeling about these guys" would not be a good answer for Fang), and I also didn't want to answer, I did the most wonderful thing ever. I didn't answer him.

Am I not wonderful?

_Max. The kids have stopped running and their leader is finally letting them rest. They're in a clearing up ahead waiting for the Erasers. _There was a pause from the Voice. _She thinks like you Max._

_**Umm, that's a good thing right?**_

_Yes Max, yes it is._

_**Thanks.**_

I started to run a little bit faster, and the clearing finally came into view ahead of me. I dive rolled into a bush which hid me from view. _**Way to pull a Tom Cruise, Max.**_

"Everybody down!" I whisper yelled. Nudge groaned. "There goes my totally fabulous shirt." Trace (Oh yeah, forgot to mention, we found Fang's also part Avian brother! He can figure out how to use a random piece of technology by looking at it. Hence the name Trace. He's more silent than Fang. Angel says it's because he misses someone, but she can't tell who.) shushed her.

All there was for a few seconds was the silence. I didn't like it. Iggy shifted awkwardly. Apparently, he didn't either.

The Erasers finally entered the clearing and all that happened for a few minutes was some growling. Then came some actual words. Yay!

"You kids need to be brought back." The Eraser who looked like he was in charge of this little get together said, mainly talking to the growling ki—you know what. I'm calling her Ivy! She's standing next to some anyways—mainly talking to the growling Ivy. He took one step forward and a snarl rose from her throat. I swear, she was as scary as Fang was.

The air suddenly got a little hotter, then as soon after the girl standing next to Ivy (whom I'm naming Rose, due to the fact her T-shirt had a rose on it, matched with some dark blue capris) put her hand on Ivy's shoulder, the air temperature went back down. Well, all aside from Ivy shooting sparks out of her eyes.

And no, I am not having heat flashes.

"That's what you think." The guy who was looming rather protectively next to Rose (his name is Tai now) stated rather ominously.

A collective growl went up from the hairy side of the clearing.

"You will come with us." He ground out. But now he was shaking. And then he stopped and a very strange looking smile came over the Eraser's very twisted face. ""We have a new reproduction test which you will be used for." Ah. Hence the very strange looking smile. SICKOS!

"So let me get this straight. You want us to go back to hell on Earth with you—"

I couldn't hear whatever word she said over the third girl, who was in the cutoff sweat pants and long sleeve green striped T-shirt with a cloud (and whom I'm naming Dream), who screamed, "Beep!"

The fourth girl, who I shall name Wren because she was wearing an Abercrombie shirt with black wings on it and some ripped up jeans, continued her rant, "Thank you Hope. With you beeps so that you can FORCE US TO HAVE SEX WITH EACH OTHER?!?!" Wren was now screaming the last part in the direction of the Erasers.

"Yes." All the opposing experiments, us included, were staring at the head Eraser. _**I hope this idiot was not hoping on leaving this clearing alive. Hell, he won't even be able to leave. He's going to be in pieces in about 30 seconds.**_

Every rebel in the clearing stared unblinkingly at the retarded Eraser. Then the guy who was standing next to Hope/Dream in a blue shirt and brown khakis (naming him Josh) said, "Well, is everyone ready to go now? I mean, how could I possibly pass up that wonderful offer?"

The last boy, who I'm naming Roy for no reason whatsoever, was also dressed in green camouflage, and was rolling his eyes at Josh, said, "Like this, Shawn. Shadow, please?"

She rolled her eyes. "Thought you'd never ask."

And so, a majority of the Erasers side was blown to pieces.

It's moments like this where you really wonder, "What the hell just happened?"

I looked back at Fang and he shrugged. _**Do we jump in now? **_I asked the Voice.

_Wait a few minutes._

_**Why?**_

_You'll see. Trace, as you call him, will be very happy._

_**Wait, what?! What do you mean "Trace as we call him"?! That's his name, isn't it?!?!**_

_Whatever you say, Max. _He said as I looked back at Trace. He had his eyes fixed on Shadow, who I figured out was the leader and was in the middle of flipping over an Eraser's head to roundhouse kick another Flyboys face off. She didn't seem the least bit mindful of the fire. He looked like he was in between the points of trying to figure something out and in complete awe.

_Whatever you say._

* * *

_**I hope you enjoyed! All must read and review if you read this. Period.**_

**_Oh and I have a summary for another Fax shot I'm doing. They're a bit older in that one. _**

"Maxi." His voice had gotten lower by more than an octave, and the way he said my name was slowly driving me past sanity. "Fang." It came out as a moan.

**_Anyways, I hope that you liked that little preview. I'm also working on my first Twilight peice. It shall rock. AWESOMELY!_**

**_Sincerely,_**

Livvy: Alex, did you shave your legs?

Alex: GAH! WILL YOU ALL STOP ASKING ME THAT?!?! AND YES!

-- Stomps over to desk and sits down --

-- Livvy follows and stares at Alex's legs. --

Livvy: So smooth...

**_a.k.a. Skittles_**


	4. A painful memory

**_One of my favorite chapters to write. Ever. Period._**

**_Oh and I forgot my disclaimer all this time:_**

**_If I owned Max Ride, would I really be here right now? I would be at a genius convention somewhere! Jeesh._**

**_Max's thoughts are still like this._**

_Voice is still like this._

**_Now, ON WITH THE STORY!!_**

* * *

I watched as the 7 kids threw punches and kicks all around the clearing. Just to keep track of them, I recapped the situation again.

There was Hope, who I had temporarily renamed Dream, who had just drop kicked an Eraser. She had light brown hair, which had a green streak in it. _**A bit strange.**_

There was the guy who always kept closest to her, who I had renamed "Josh" for no real reason whatsoever. He was wearing some brown khakis and a blue shirt, and had just dragged Hope out of the way of an oncoming Eraser blow. _**Wow, he's protective of her.**_

There was "Wren", the girl who had ranted about the Institute forcing them all to have sex with each other. She was the one wearing the T-shirt with the black wings on it and the ripped up jeans. And also the one who had just knocked out a Flyboy. _**Well damn. There are no words to describe that look.**_

There was "Roy", the third boy who I also renamed that for reasons unknown to me. He had been the one wearing the all green clothing. _**He obviously loved his camouflage.**_ He just attacked the Eraser who was threatening to clock Wren over the head. _**Reminds me of Fang, sort of.**_

There was "Rose", the girl who had been closest to Shadow (their leader). She was the one who was wearing the T-shirt with the rose on it and the blue cutoff pants, and was currently surrounded, and now she's not due to the fact that the guy who had been closest to her that I said was named "Tai" (he was the one that had been wearing the blood red T-shirt and the black pants) had just jumped in and attacked half of that circle. _**Once again, there are no words. And that reminds me of Fang. Scratch that last thought.**_

And then there was the last girl. I thought her name had been Ivy _– __**It was a nice name anyways—**_but her name had really been Shadow. _**Understandable. **_She was the one who when I was in the mall helped me for no real reason and she was the one wearing the camouflaged black khakis, the black camisole and the black cutoff leather jacket. _**She really did remind me of me, I guess. When I dropped from the sky and helped Ella for no apparent reason. And I also don't get why she called me her "sister". I mean she's obviously not my sister. She looks more Brazilian than anything, and I'm all pale. And she sure as hell isn't Ella either.**_

I tried to figure out Trace's reaction to seeing her. And…

I got nothing.

It was obvious that he was looking at her like the eight world wonder, and he looked sort of in denial too. And he looked so joyful that I thought he would get up and start doing the Macarena and sing out showtunes from the mountains.

_**And I have absolutely nothing, still.**_

Turning back to the actual fight scene going on about three feet in front of me, I saw that everything was going rather well for the experiments.

As the last Eraser got scissor-kicked and fell to the floor, all the kids regrouped. "Take that, BOZOS!" "Tai" yelled as he and "Rose" high fived each other. Shadow's head was automatically scanning to see if everyone was there. _**Head count,**_ I thought with a small smile.

Then she dropped to the ground next to "Roy", who was currently cradling "Wren" in his arms.

She cocked an eyebrow. He answered. "She got hit by a tranquilizer dart. I pulled it out as soon as I could."

She nodded, checked "Wren's" pulse, and took the half empty tranquilizer dart from "Roy's" hands."Roy" looked at her with what looked like hopeful eyes. She simply muttered something too low for me to hear, and he sighed almost…_angrily. **Once again, possessive much?**_

They all got up and "Roy" cradled "Wren" in his arms. Everyone tensed when a single voice echoed through the clearing.

"Did the party start without me?" Someone called out mockingly from the trees where everyone had just run from. Everyone turned around and stared.

A single body emerged from the trees and stared dead at Shadow. "Aw, Sparky, you didn't wait for me." He even did the pout. _**I do not like this guy. Don't care if I don't know him. He pisses me off already.**_

He looked like Omega, only he had the sneer plastered on his face. His eyes were literally glowing with hatred, and from where I was standing…crouching…Shadow looked even more lethal than he did.

In the middle of the field, a spare broken Flyboy part ignited.

"Guys, leave now." Shadow managed to ground out with much difficulty, her eyes still trained on the hate filled robot that was still staring at her.

"We aren't leaving Shadow. Now, who the hell is this creep?" "Tai" asked, his eyes starting to squint.

"I'll tell you later. Leave now." She commanded through gritted teeth. Shadow turned to look at "Rose", and "Rose" jumped backwards. "Holy crap!" She yelled. "Shadow, your eyes are dark brown!"

Everyone immediately took a step backwards away from their leader, and Shadow kept her eyes on the guy who was still staring at her from across the clearing. After a few seconds, "Rose" said, "Right. Come on, guys." And everyone besides Shadow started to move backwards into the forest. Right before they left, "Tai" looked back and said, "It was a pretty clearing while it grew." Shadow chuckled tensely and we all listened to the sound of their footsteps fade away.

Everything got all silent again. "Aw, you didn't tell them about me, Sparky. I'm hurt." The creepy guy across the way said (still mockingly), and he started to circle around the clearing. Shadow kept the distance between them the same, moving in the opposite direction.

"Well, it's pretty hard to capture the amount of hatred I have for you in words, Kyle." Shadow said. Absently in the back of my head I thought, _**She has a pretty voice. And she does sort of sound like me. Especially with that little smile at the end of that statement. Just lay on the sugar. Doesn't matter if you're staring death in the face... or in this case ugly.**_

Kyle, on the other hand, had a different sort of reaction to the smile. The fake smile dropped for a few seconds. "Well isn't that a shame, Sparky? I—"

Shadow interrupted. "Don't call me that."

"Why not Sparky? Is that what your friend used to call you? I'll just ask those kids over there in the bushes." He said. _**Was he talking about us?**_

_Yes, Max, yes he is._

_**Well, crap.**_

"HEY KIDS!" He yelled, slowly approaching us. Shadow growled. _**My gosh. What percent animal was she?**_

"Leave them out of this." She commanded, moving back to crouch in front of us. **_She knew we were here the entire time?! Wait a minute, I'll go down that thought path later, s_**_**he doesn't even know who we are, and she's attempting to protect us.**_

_I told you she resembles you._

"Why are you trying to help protect them Val?"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT EITHER!" She yelled. Another piece of Flyboy exploded in the space between them.

"But why are you trying to protect them, Valerie? Didn't you see what happened when you tried to protect Damien?"

Everything was very very quiet. And then some unseen line was crossed, because Shadow and Kyle lunged at each other at exactly the same time.

The only thing was that both of Shadow's fists were one fire. _**Interesting.**_

_I didn't see that coming. _The Voice chimed in.

Shadow was throwing wild punches and her eyes (when I could finally see them after her ebony black hair was out of the way) were pitch black. _**There are no words for that kind of fury.**_

"DON'T BRING HIM INTO THIS!" Shadow was yelling. I think she was pissed beyond pissed beyond reason. She was also past hysteria.

Kyle didn't even look like he was really working up a sweat. He simply dodged every blow that she threw at him. Eventually, he got pissed enough by her efforts, grabbed her by the throat and slammed her into a tree. She squirmed against the tree trunk as her back hit the bark

"Now listen up, Shadow, or Valerie, or whoever the hell you are. You are coming back to the School and you are going to behave like a good little experiment. Got it?" He sneered.

Shadow/Valerie—_**at this rate I'm going to have to go back to calling her Ivy—**_tried to choke something out. "What was that?"

Clearly having trouble breathing, she wheezed out, "I said, over my pile of ashes." And then she kicked Kyle twice in the stomach (which was placed rather conveniently where her feet were hanging) and nearly crashed to the ground gasping for air. Kyle had been thrown back about 10 feet. **_She has a nice soccer kick._**

He started moving towards her again, but something changed. Kyle, the closer he got to her, the harder a time he seemed to be having keeping himself upwards. It was really off. _**Well to me anyways.**_

Eventually, right before he reached her, there was a muffled ripping noise that came from right where Kyle was now falling face down in front of Shadow. His eyes were now dark, like they were in sleep mode. There was no glowing.

Kyle was dead.

Shadow was staring at the body that was now lying on the ground in front of her. Then she started to sway, and a voice called out to her from the trees. "SHADOW!"

Shadow stopped herself from swaying and just dropped down right where she was. Then "Rose" ran back into the clearing and dropped down beside her. "What were you thinking?!?!" She yelled, starting to fix Shadow's injuries.

Shadow chuckled rather darkly. "You don't want to know. Rather violent, even for me."

There was a pause, then "Rose" broke it. "I heard everything." She said, staring Shadow dead in the eye.

Shadow grimaced ruefully, and said, "I guess I have some explaining to do, huh?" "Rose's" only response was a nod.

Shadow took a deep breath. "Ok, remember how I said when I met you guys that I had been outside the Institute before?"

Another nod. "There is a lot more to this story than that."

She continued. "When I was four, I got moved to a different room and met the guy who soon after became my best friend. His self-appointed name was Damien, and since I didn't know my own name, I gave myself the name Valerie. It sounded good, and I heard one of the "nicer" whitecoats call me that once.

"Anyways, by the age of 10 we got out. I disarmed the security system. That was a good day."

"Tangent." "Rose" interrupted.

"Right. We traveled around, met some others like us at a rebel site. The girl in charge took me in, and so we stayed there.

"One day, we had been doing a raid, and some Flyboys attacked. We didn't know how to fight them right, and so they took me and Damien back. Said they had no need for the others. They held us at gunpoint and I laughed in their faces. Much fun." _**Did she have a death wish back then? Even I wouldn't do that!**_

_You sure about that Max?_

I thought about it for a second. _**Hush it you.**_

"I got knocked out with some tranquilizer, and woke up in the Eraser playroom. I was backed against a wall, surrounded, and then I saw through the little hole that the Erasers made in the forming of the circle the blank you see lying in front of me wrapping a cord around Damien's neck."

"Oh jeez, Shad—"

"You don't know what it's like, to see the life of your best friend being drained out of his eyes. That memory haunts me every night. It's why I can't sleep. It's why I try not to show to much emotion. It's why I beat the crap out of any fool who has the guts to try and stand in the way of what I want. It's why I try to protect you guys so much." I don't think that she realized it, but a few stray tears were running down her cheeks.

As soon as I thought that, Shadow abruptly wiped the tears away from her face. "Rose" helped Shadow to get back on her feet, quietly waiting for some order.

"I'll be fine." Shadow said. Then came a smirk. "Rose" smiled in return. I guess she was happy to have her friend back to normal.

"After you?" Shadow said. "Rose" was now full out grinning. Like Iggy "I-just-got-a-free-never-expires-pass-to-the-world's-bomb-supply" grinning.

"Rose" turned in a different direction, the way that ran along the long side of the clearing. She put her bag on her back and rolled her shoulders back. Then she took off sprinting, and opened up a beautiful pair of cream wings with black speckled spots on the tips. _**Well that answers the question of what type of experiment they are.**_

Shadow started running too, and whipped out a gorgeous pair of dark brown wings with white streaks on the lower part which was closer to her feet. She flapped them twice, and then they flew up and away, towards the mountains.

Almost immediately, Trace jumped up and said, "We need to go after them." We all stared at him. A, that was the most he had ever spoken at one time. B, he didn't even know her.

"Umm, Trace, might I ask why?" I asked slowly.

He heaved a huge sigh. He sounded tired, but his eyes were literally dancing. They were much more alive than I had ever seen them in the time that I had known him --cough3yearscough--.

He looked up at the sky in the direction Shadow and "Rose" had gone. He looked back at all of us and said rather forcefully, "Because I'm not losing my best friend again."

It was then that I put everything together. "Damien…" the name slipped from my lips, and Damien's eyes snapped towards mine. I didn't need any confirmation from him.

_Follow his lead._

I didn't need any more convincing. I got up from my hiding spot, started running, and shot open my wings.

_**This will be interesting.**_

_No one ever said it wouldn't be._

* * *

_**How did you like it? I want at least 8 reviews!**_

**_Sincerely,_**

"Zee, will you shield me from the oncoming taxi so you die instead of me?"

"Of ciourse, Maya."

--silence--

"You must really love me. Jeesh. Have you know sense of survival?!?!?!"

**_a.k.a. Skittles31_**


	5. A reunion, of sorts

**_To all my delightful people who are actually reading and not reviewing:_**

**_OK MY SHMEXY DUMPLINGS! Here's the deal!_**

**_I have another story out for Twilight (--insert fangirl squeal here--) and I am getting a very little amount of reviews on it. That hurts._**

**_Quite frankly, I'm pissed. I am working on the thing and I have gotten little to no recognition. Well, that's not actually true. _**

**_People, if you actually click on the little story link, please promise me that you'll review. I need some feedback, adn it makes me deflate (yes, I deflate) to see that I'm getting no reviews for what I work so hard on. So please, check it out? The story is called "Runaway Love", and there are only two chapters so far, but I am currently writing the third one. SO REVIEW FOR THAT STORY AND THIS ONE TOO!!!!_**

**_I just remembered that I have not written a disclaimer for all this time. SO:_**

**_Disclaimer: If I owned Max Ride, I would not be sitting here like a hermit typing what I wish could have happened in the damn story! _**

**_Max's thoughts are like this._**

_Voice is like this_

_Shadow is like this._

**_Now that that's over with, ON WITH THE STORY!_**

* * *

As I rose upward into the sky, I kept on involuntarily looking back at Trace/Damien. _**Hmm, what were we going to call him now? **_I turned back around to think some more on that topic.

_**How had he managed to keep the fact that he had a completely different past from the rest of us? I mean, Angel got bits and pieces, sure, but no one really knew him. He just popped up in a conversation with the Voice one day, and we ran off to get him. No introductions. We even renamed the kid.**_

_**But he didn't seem to have a problem with it. He just nodded his head, and didn't speak much. More like a shadow than Fang is. And now he's all "happy go lucky" that he sees this one girl, and he's smiling. You couldn't get a reaction out of him if you tried the day before yesterday, and he's SMILING today! **_As you could see, I still was not over the entire "Damien/Trace rising from the depths of depression" thing.

We were still following the girls, Shadow and "Rose". _**I really needed to figure out her name.**_

They were both about 50 feet in front of us, and were still going upwards into the clouds. I checked behind me to see how everyone was doing again. Angel and Gazzy were playing a game of… well I didn't actually know what game they were playing. Nudge was babbling on and on. I caught the words "past…help…friend…leader…Max…like Fang?" I couldn't hear what ever else she was rambling on about, but I blocked her out and let Iggy keep listening to her silently. She had gotten better at controlling her mouth over the years, so it didn't hurt as much when she talked. **_(A.N. Did you get the last parts of the rant that Max heard? Yeah I really am in love with Fax. =D)_**

_**And speaking of Mr. Calm, Cool, and Collected…, **_I thought, looking around for some sign of his wings. I soon felt a small tap on my head, and looked straight upwards. _**And there he is.**_

"You never answered the question, Max." He said lowly, spinning himself so that he was now level with me on my right side.

"What question?" I knew perfectly well what question he was talking about, but sometimes it's better to try and see if you can play dumb with Fang.

"Why were we going after these people in the first place?" He muttered to me. I sighed, racking my brain to find a believable lie.

"The Voice said they would be able to help." I said, looking back to check on everybody again. My eyes slowed down on Trace/Damien, then I looked back up to the other group of flying Avian hybrids. I put the faces of Shadow and Trace/Damien –_**I really need to figure out his name, too—**_side by side in my mind, trying to find a connection between the two physically. _**Nothing, besides the long flowing hair, and the fact they would look good as a couple. **_

At that moment, Shadow stopped flying and spun around. She hovered there for a minute, enough time for us to close the distance between us and them until it was only 5 feet wide.

"Rose" kept asking, "Shadow, what's wrong?"

Finally, Shadow awoke from whatever state of subconscious limbo she was in and said, "You really don't want me to answer that question."

"Yes, I do." "Rose" said.

Shadow turned to "Rose" and said, "Skye, listen to me. You _**really**_ don't want the answer to that question."

"Yes, I do, Shadow."

She looked at her blankly and said, "I am going to resurrect and then re-kill the whitecoats."

"Umm, mind if I ask why?"

All the sparks hit gasoline right about there. "Because, on top of the other problems I have: being a 16 year old with wings, having to somehow make food for all 6 of the rest of my Flock plus myself who each eat like it's Thanksgiving every meal, the Erasers from the Institute who can't seem to get it through their heads that I'm not coming to their side even if they ask politely or have cookies, my deceased best friend, the fact that I can't even enjoy the feeling of killing the guy who killed him because I know that the Institute will send some sort of clone, one of my Flock members being currently unconscious due to a tranquilizer dart, playing matchmaker for several members of my Flock, having Max Ride on my tail and having to convince myself that it is a good thing that I let her come with _her_ Flock, not having had a good night's sleep in over _3 freaking years_, going to sleep involves sleeping for at most 15 minutes, the always appearing nightmares, being a walking time bomb, being able to read minds and send them thoughts, the constant migraines, the constant need to have sugar to keep me going, having to keep Shawn out of constant trouble, making sure we continue to fly under the radar, and the fact that my right side is attempting to separate from the rest of my body, I HAVE JUST FIGURED OUT THAT APPARENTLY" her eyes flicked towards Trace/Damien's face as she snarled out the rest of her statement, "_**I SEE DEAD PEOPLE TOO!**_"

She snapped her wings shut and began to drop like a rock from the sky into the forest. Skye followed, and then we did the same, with Trace/ Damien in the lead closest to catching up to Skye.

Tilting her body so that she continued to move towards the mountains, Shadow threw open her wings and jerked slightly upwards, before she lowered herself to a level at where she could safely drop down into the trees below. Gazzy yelled over the wind, "SHE'S LIKE A NINJA!" Fang snorted beside me as we continued downwards, following her lead.

We eventually got to the actual forest floor and spotted Shadow resting beside a tree taking what looked like a Tylenol and then stuffing a pair of headphones in her ears. There was a pile of wood that was beside her that just as quickly lit on fire.

Shadow sank to the ground by a tree, and pulled up her knees, staring into space. Skye—_**finally I know her name!—**_went to step forward, but Trace/Damien stepped forward and asked, "Can I?"

Skye looked at him strangely, but said, "Sure. Gonna have to get used to you guys now, anyways." She stepped aside to let him through.

He stepped into the tiny clearing, and moved up beside her and sat down. She paused her music, looked at him with tired eyes, and groaned. "I can still see you. Jeez, as if I wasn't enough of a freak before." She muttered to herself, then straightened up and turned to… I've finally decided on calling him Damien.

"How is it in heaven… or hell?" His eyes bored into hers and then after what looked like a self seen epiphany, she looked thoughtful. "Did they take away your wings when you got to wherever? And, yes, I am saying that it is "wherever" because you and I both know you were not the most religiously correct thing to walk this planet when you were alive.

"I guess you want to know what's happened since the incident, right? I'm surprised you weren't listening in. Well, after you…left," she visibly deflated, but tried to keep it hidden," I met the rest of my present flock. There was Skye, who I'm closest to; Mira, who sorta kinda fainted due to a tranq dart—You saw that right? So I don't have to explain? Good.--; Hope, the bouncy eccentric one who you should never let into a kitchen for fear of it blowing up;" Everyone behind me muttered 'Max.'"Jinx, who has the same hyperactivity complex that Hope has; Shawn, who's in love with Mira and is still worrying over her, I bet; and finally, Blaze, who has some strange-ass red hair. I'm leader, and I have to constantly cook and keep them out of the Institute. So far I'm doing well: they haven't been back there yet, and I plan on keeping it that way. Mira and Shawn are in love with each other, so I'm playing matchmaker with them again. I know you think I'm being nosy, but seriously, it gets annoying when all they do is think of each other. ALL THE TIME!

"But I actually am making some progress with the coded files from the Institute—Oh, did I tell you that I blew it up last time I was there? No? Well, I did, after I got my entire power to control fire as a result of the nuclear testing—But, yeah, I made some progress in the entire decoding. I kept your files, too. Turns out that your real name was Christopher, your birthday is March 17th, and you were born in Richmond, Virginia. I haven't done my file yet; I want to do everyone else's first. But I'd like it if my name wasn't anything really girly. You know, like Sally or Kaitlyn? It just doesn't fit me.

"Did you get my last message? Well, the right question would probably be did you get any of my messages. I always burn them, and I really hope that you get them. It's easier for me. Did you hear about the time when Jinx and Hope nearly destroyed the mall? That was pretty fun. I know you probably don't want me to be worrying over you so much, but it isn't really working out, seeing as you were my first best friend.

"My wings haven't changed, and I still have that book. _The Host_? I really liked it. I know how much you wanted to burn it though when I kept quoting Melanie." She paused." That's Hope's real name. I would love to actually use it, but it seems so weird after calling her Hope all this time."

All this time, Shadow had not once paused for a breath. She was full on ranting. I could tell that this was hurting her, just going on and on to someone who you thought wasn't real. And she really needed this too. Skye couldn't really understand since she didn't know their relationship to each other. _**Poor kid. She thinks she's gone crazy.**_

"Oh, and I hope that you don't mind that I didn't really tell anyone about you. It just hurts a lot to tell them the story—"

"Valerie." Damien finally spoke. _**Took him long enough.**_

She gasped really loudly and practically threw herself in the opposite direction away from him. "You never talked before!" Her eyes were wide and panicked. My gosh, she looked so… _vulnerable_. Like a deer caught in the headlights. This was a completely different contrast from the Shadow that I had seen earlier today in the other clearing. I wanted to protect her. She had been taking care of everyone else, and she had never stopped to think about herself. She needed someone to make sure she didn't do something stupid, to make sure she didn't get sick, to make sure she didn't go crazy from all the pressure.

The Voice popped in. _She reminds you of a little sister. She also reminds you of you. I hope you know that this is probably how you would be like if you lost Fang._

_**And I know it, too.**_

I refocused on Valerie, who was now crawling backwards to press against a tree trunk. "I'm dead, aren't I? I must have swopped in too low to the trees and fallen down to the floor, lost too much blood, and died." A pause." Aww, crap! Skye is going to kill me! And so are you! Damn it, and I just said I wasn't going down without a fight. DOUBLE CRAP!" I wasn't sure whether or not to laugh at the statement or cry for her. "Or maybe I'm asleep?" She looked so unsure. Her voice was wavering a bit too. "Maybe this is all just a dream and I'm finally got some sleep that I needed. But that's impossible, since I always have nightmares instead. Or maybe you've come back to haunt me. Or maybe guide me. MAYBE YOU'RE MY GUARDIAN ANGEL! But, wait, I don't know whether or not you've gone to heaven or hell. So that's out of the question. So then the only logical answer is that I've gone mad! OF COURSE! The lack of sleep, hallucinations that my mind is trying to give me what I think I want, the entire "I can read minds thing"! I HAVE GONE INSANE! Bwahahaha!" Valerie jumped up and started laughing hysterically at her own epiphany. Damien got up slowly, and stood right in front of her.

"Val," he started off slowly, "You haven't gone insane. I'm really here to stay." He reached out a hand to touch her, but when he did she jumped back into the tree trunk again.

"NO! You're not here! You're just an illusion! Quit trying to tell me you're not! It's not fair, 'cause then I'll get my hopes up, and then I'll start to believe you, and as soon as I touch you, you'll disappear and you'll never come back for real!" Tears were streaking down Valerie's face, and she had wrapped her arms around herself, trying to prevent the pain. Her voice, pretty as it was, had cracked multiple times in the ranting and she sounded so broken. I could hear Nudge sobbing for Valerie's pain beside me and I pulled her closer to me to calm her down. Hell, I wanted to calm myself down. I had tears in my eyes, too.

Damien took another step forward, and Valerie pressed herself even further into the tree trunk. He took her by the shoulders, ignoring her flinching, and forced her to look into his eyes. "Listen to me, Haze. You aren't hallucinating, I'm still here. I'm here, and I'm not leaving again. I'm not dead. I die when you die. And I'm going to stick with you so much you are going to get sick of me. We'll be like Mac and cheese. You are my best friend, and best friends sure as hell don't die on each other."

The tiny smile that he let out in the end was what threw her over the edge. What finally convinced her that her best friend was back. She lunged at him, tears pouring freely down her face, and hugged him so tightly I thought she would never let go. He wrapped his arms around her, stumbling backwards, and she buried her face in his shirt. He was crying, too. They sank to the ground, and just hugged each other for the longest time. And none of us had the heart to go in there and ruin the moment.

A movement in my peripheral vision was what made me turn my head. Skye, with her tears running down her face, had taken a picture. She looked at me, mouthing, "She wouldn't want to forget this." I nodded, and turned my head back to the two best friends in the middle of a reunion.

Valerie seemed to have calmed down a little, and was now just breathing heavily, face still buried in his shirt. Damien was just staring at her wordlessly.

A while later, or so it seemed, Damien chuckled. Her head shot upwards, eyes boring into his again. _**She probably felt the vibrations.**_

"What?" She asked, her voice sounding hoarse. _**Probably from all the crying she just did.**_

"Two things. One: Your happy glow. It's blinding." He joked. I looked over to Fang, and the ghost of a smile crossed his lips. Angel smiled.

She smiled too. A genuine smile, with teeth and all. She really did look happy. "And number two?" She pressed.

"Don't we look like something straight out of a soap opera?" He cleared his throat and deepened his voice. "_After being separated for years, two best friends find each other again in an overcrowded mall. She raced into his arms and they both sighed in relief and joy after realizing that the other was not dead like they thought they had been for years._" He laughed, and the sound bounced off of the trees.

She joined in, and the sound traveled over our heads. "If I didn't know better, D, I would be led to believe that you have been watching soap operas in my absence." She smirked as his eyes narrowed. It made me smile to see that they were already joking around about the past, and letting it go.

He gasped, and said, "You did not just go there."

"Oh yes I did. And I bought property." She shot back.

Next thing I knew, she was being thrown over his shoulder, and spun around. Her squeals could be heard a mile away.

_Well you try being thrown over someone's shoulder and spun around see if you don't let out some verbal response!_ I visibly stiffened and wondered who the hell that was that just entered my head.

_It's me, Max! Valerie. But I like the name Ivy. You can call me it as a special nickname._ I smiled. _**Sure. **_Then, I frowned. _**Now I run the risk of having three voices in my head. I think I broke the limit. You'll have to have me committed to an asylum. **_I thought sarcastically.

_Oh well._

After she was finally put back down on the ground, Ivy and Damien looked over to where we were and said at the same time, "OK. We're done now. You can come out."

I stepped forward into the clearing and smiled. "You already know who we are."

She smiled back. _**Jesus, Damien was right. Her happy glow is blinding. **_"Yup, Hope is a major "Fang's blog" addict. We have a computer too, so we try and access it anytime we can. Meaning every night according to Hope, who constantly shoves me over to get to my bag and steal it."

Everyone chuckled, still rubbing their eyes from crying. Well, the girls were anyways.

Skye stepped over and hugged her. Some silent communication was passed between them, and Ivy smiled at her too. _**Gosh, her mouth will stay like that permanently soon.**_

Then she let out a small, "Oh!" and pulled away from Damien's touch. "I have to get back to the rest of my Flock, and treat Mira! Crap, I can't believe I forgot!" She then shot off through the forest trees, with us having no choice but to follow her.

Fang came over to me and whispered in my ear before I went running, "Well, that went well, don't you think?"

I laughed and ran to catch up with everyone else.

* * *

About fifteen minutes later, we had finally ran and flew far enough that we could find Ivy's Flock. As soon as she landed, she was tackled by a very fast moving body. "YOU'RE BACK!!!" Said body screeched --**_Ow, my ears-- _**as both her and Ivy hit the ground.

"Hope, sweetie, deep breaths. No hyperventilating. I can't carry you to San Diego when you're dead." Ivy said. Hope smiled sheepishly and Ivy full out grinned. Hope, momentarily stunned by the action, was not able to keep her hold on Ivy as she got back up to check on Mira and her supposed boyfriend, Shawn.

_Not supposed. They will be official if I have anything to do with it. _I cracked a smile.

"Any movement yet, Shawn?" Ivy asked as she bent down to their level. She checked her pulse and then concentrated on her head. Every second that passed, the mischevous smile on Ivy's face grew wider and wider.

"What's wrong, Shadow?" Shawn asked her. She looked up at him, smile still intact.

She looked away, got up and said, "She's dreaming."

"Really?!? That's good. What of?" Shawn asked, his face practically glowing. **_I haven't even been here for that long and I can see that he is almost sickeningly in love with her._**

Ivy turned around and said, "Wouldn't you like to know?" He looked after her with a very confused expression.

She moved to Jinx and the last boy, Blaze, next. "Anything happen since I forced you guys to leave?"

They both looked at each other. "Nope. But I can't say the same for you. Who are they?" Jinx asked.

Ivy started glowing again, and turned to us. "This is Maximum Ride, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Trace-slash-Damien, The Gasman, and Angel. The original Flock."

Behind her, Hope screamed at the top of her lungs, and then fainted. Immediately, Jinx went running towards her, but then she popped back upwards and came running towards us. Then she dive tackled Nudge.

"OHMYROMEO!Ican'tbelieveIfinallygettomeetallofyou!Ilovetheblog,andShadowmanagedtotrackyouguysthroughthewebsite!That'stheonlyreasonthatwefoundoutyouwereinthatmall!She'!SQUEEEEEE--!"

_**(Translation: OHMYROMEO! I can't believe I finally get to meet all of you! I love the blog, and Shadow managed to track you guys through the website! That's the only reason that we found out you were in that mall! She's an amazing hacker. And you guys are really here! SQUEEEEEE!)**_

Ivy slapped her hand over Hope's mouth, though Hope was still visibly bouncing and squealing. She shot me a look that said "Now-you-know-what-I-meant-by-she's-eccentric." I smirked at her and shot her a look that clearly said "I-know-what-you-mean.-I-have-one-of-my-own."

Blaze was staring at Ivy like he was trying to decipher some ancient crossword puzzle. "Shadow?"

"Yes?" Ivy said, tearing her gaze from mine.

"Why is Trace also Damien?" Blaze asked.

Ivy heaved a huge sigh. "I'll tell you that when Mira wakes up, because I am not repeating myself. The story is very long." Damien came up behind her, and put a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head to look at her, and then a long moment of silent communication passed between them.

She turned back to Blaze and Jinx and said, "Well, this is Damien, my best friend from before I ever met you guys who I thought was dead until about 20 minutes ago." She finished with a bright smile, and then looked back at Damien as if to confirm her statement.

Before either of her Flock members could say anything, a low moan came from the other end of the cave (we were still standing at the entrance). Soon afterwards, Shawn's excited voice came echoing through the cave. "SHE'S WAKING UP!"

Everyone from Ivy's Flock rushed over to see Mira's eyes fluttering open. Her first words were "Jesus, I feel stiff."

Ivy rolled her eyes and hugged her. "Good to have you back, Mira." Mira's eyes, along with every person in her Flock's besides Skye, widened to at least four times their size.

"What--" Mira and Shawn chorused.

"The--" Blaze chimed.

"HEDGEHOG?!?!" Jinx and Hope shouted at the same time.

Ivy, letting go of the hold she had on her ears, said, "I know, I know. 'I gots some explainin' to do.'"

"Damn skippy, you gots some explainin' to do!" Mira yelled at Ivy from her new position: sitting upright in Shawn's lap with his arms wrapped around her, her leaning against him and his head on her shoulder. This did not escape my notice, and a sly smirk from Ivy confirmed that she saw the change too.

Ivy ran a hand through her hair and said, "Ok. Here's the long story condensed. When I was four, they threw me in a new cage in a new room next to Damien over there. They had seen how well Max and her Flock were doing but they were paranoid about her failing. So they wanted a back up Flock to step in in case their plans for her ever backfired. They were trying to raise Damien to be like Max, and me to be like Fang. They were determined not to have another girl lead, and they made sure that I was younger than Damien so that I could get training to be the second in command. Didn't work out well. I'm not one to follow directions. They were pissed when they figured out that I was getting more Max-like every day, and Damien was getting more Fang-like. Sometimes, I acted like Max on purpose: stubborn, talking back, giving them hell. And other times I acted like Fang: silent, no real reactions showing at all, not showing the reactions they wanted anyways. And there were times that I had no idea who I was acting like. I remember one time when I was 5 or 6 years old adn this whitecoat kept reprimanding me for somethign. So first I snapped back at him and then-- Stop laughing, D. You would have done the same thing if you were in my situation. And get up off the damn floor.-- Like I was saying, first, I snapped back at him, and he was getting ready to use a taser. I don't know what happened, but I snapped and lunged at him. I gave him a black eye, multiple bruises, and then I bit down on his arm. Hard. I didn't let go, so it took about 6 Erasers to get me off of him, and get me to the isolation room. The reason Mr. Hyena over there is laughing so hard is because I went up to about the whitecoats waist. Not any taller, and I dive tackled him like nothing." _**That was a total Fang moment. And I could see why Damien was laughing so hard. The mental image of her at age 6 years old beating down a whitecoat about twice her size is hilarious.**_

"At age nine, we were able to bust out, grabbing our files, and a credit card too. I had developed my mental abilities, and I had overloaded the security system. We stayed in New York City for a little bit, then made our way to Chicago, where we found the Bunker. Gina took care of us, and they were my first real family. At age 13, when we were going on a raid, they took me and Damien back, having no use for the others. I had gotten knocked out, and woke up in the Eraser playroom. We had been separated, and I got pushed into a corner surrounded by Erasers. The only thing I was able to see was a cord being wrapped around D's neck by the guy that you saw in the clearing right before I told you all to go away. Though Skye stayed.

"Then I got thrown into the mix with you guys, became leader, and have successfully been unable to get a good night's sleep ever since I saw what was apparently a Damien clone (but I didn't know that at the time) die in his place. He got thrown into the Flock for what reason I didn't know, and then they all followed me here after Damien and my reunion. Oh, and I had named myself Valerie before because that's what I heard a whitecoat call me once. So if you hear D call me that, yes he is talking to me." _**And so ended the life story (so far) of Valerie Ivy Shadow. **_

_What did you just call me?_

**_Umm, all three of your names. Valerie Ivy Shadow._**

She smiled at me. _I like it. It sounds like me._

**_Glad you approve._**

Then she seemed to realize that no one was talking. I think they were all in awe. Ivy turned her head to meet Damien's and her eyes widened. He nodded, and a thoughtful expression took over her face.

She shook out her ebony black hair and then said, "Alright. Whose ready to eat some dinner?"

Well that was a silence breaker. Strange.

_No. Just...interesting._

**_No one every said it wouldn't be_**. I thought as I looked around the fire at all the new faces. I had a feeling that I was going to be seeing them for a long time.

* * *

_**Did you enjoy it? I hope you did. I had fun writing this one. And it is mega long. You had better love me for this people.**_

**_Anyway, remember what I said. You read, you review._**

**_And also, bad news. I have exams all this week, so I won't be able to update. I hope you guys understand. I'll update as soon as I can, and that will not be this week. Period._**

**_Thanks for getting it._**

**_Love,_**

**_skittles31_**


	6. Closer

**_I have given you the longest chapter of any story I've ever written. READ WITH CAUTION! AND REVIEW! I PUT MY HEART AND SOUL INTO THIS!!_**

**_Probably why I'm in the hospital right now... Lack of heart seems like a good enough reason._**

**_And now,_**

**_MAX'S THOUGHTS LIKE THIS_**

_Voice thoughts like this_

_Ivy/Shadow's thoughts are like this_

**Angel is like this.**

**And any other person's thoughts are like this.**

**_ON WITH THE STORY!!!_**

We mostly spent the night before we went to sleep getting to know each other. I figured that was the best thing to do, seeing as Hope was still squealing and wanting to know what everyone did. Ivy continually was shooting me "I-am-so-sorry" glances, but I did my best to not shout out "Ow! My poor ears!"

So everyone sat down around the fire that Ivy had made after dinner, and the questions began.

Nudge started. _**Of course. **_"So I'm Nudge." Insert Hope's muffled squeal here. "And I love to talk. I just turned 16, and I'm fifth oldest. I think, since Trace—Oops I mean Damien!—since Damien is born on March 17th, if Valerie's right. I chose my birthday on April 24th. I can sense the emotions and thoughts of the last person who touched any object you give to me, and I'm partially magnetic. I'm a decent hacker, I like dancing, and Max is glaring at me telling me not to talk too much. So I'll stop now." She beamed at me, and then Gazzy went.

"I'm the Gasman." Iggy interrupted. "NOTE! THE NAME DOES NOT LIE! STAY UPWIND!" Gazzy glared at us as we laughed and then continued. "I'm ten years old. I can imitate people's voices and, like Iggy said," insert Gazzy's glare towards Iggy here. "make some bad stink bombs. Angel is my twin sister. And I like food and blowing stuff up with Iggy. OK, your turn, Angel."

"Hi! I'm Angel. I'm ten, like Gazzy, and I can read minds, send thoughts to other people, control your mind, and talk to fish. I love the color pink, and shopping for clothes with Nudge. We are like the only two people here with fashion sense. I mean jeez. But, yeah. Iggy, your turn."

"I'm Iggy. I love to blow things up and I am the blind cooking dude. That ought to be a special talent seeing as Max over there can burn water. Anyways before she kills me," _**He seems to finally be able to tell when I am going to smack him. **_"I can see the color of anything I touch, and if a room is completely white, then I can see. I also just turned 17. Ok, Max, since Fang doesn't talk."

"I'm Max. I'm leader. I like the color red, and I can fly at supersonic speeds. I'm 17, and I hate the color pink. And dresses. But I like flying." I sent Fang a look that clearly said, "There-I-did-it.-Now-it's-your-turn-and-you-better-talk." He chuckled and started.

"Name's Fang." Insert another one of Hope's muffled squeals here. _**Thank birdkids for Jinx and his amazing hand muffling power.**_ "I'm 17. Second in command. Have a blog. Like the color black." I muttered a "No shit, Sherlock" and Iggy snorted. "Turn invisible if I stay still enough. Don't talk much. Damien, your turn."

"Name's Damien. About 16. Fang's younger brother. Val's long lost best friend. Like the colors black and blue, and swimming. I can hack almost as well as Nudge, and figure out where anyone is in the world, so long as they're alive." Everyone in my flock had gotten introduced, including Damien, so I sat there still wondering how the hell Damien had gotten to keep all of this from us.

_**I mean, he shouldn't have been that hard to read…Well actually, there are a lot of reasons why he could be harder to read. He's Fang's brother. He has the same black hair that flops into his eyes, he doesn't have the emotions that have somehow been denied to Fang, he isn't one to come over and tell how he's feeling. Hmm, this could be why I didn't figure this out.**_

And it was true. Damien and Fang were almost too alike. Damien had his brother's long black hair and dark eyes. Except for the fact that Damien's were dark green and Fang's were brown. He's about 2 inches shorter than his brother, but has the same olive skin tone. He and Fang always wore black, and Damien was about as aggressive a fighter as Fang ever was or could be. They both had the muscles, and from behind they basically look like the same person. The personalities are the same, too. _**Maybe it was a family trait. **_Ivy let out a rather tomboyish snort, and rolled her eyes.

Everyone in the circle turned to look at her, and she just sighed and said, "Nothing. Nothing at all." Everyone except for Damien turned away from her. He just asked questions with his eyes. Her eyes flashed to me, then to Fang, and she shook her head chuckling. I cocked an eyebrow, but she waved away my silent question. Damien must have done something I didn't notice, because she snorted again and held his gaze, doing the "cut it" signal with her hands. He held her gaze, shaking his head, and she nodded her head, leaning against the wall.

Fang looked from me, to Ivy, to Damien, and then back to me. An eyebrow lifted maybe a quarter of a centimeter, and I took the Ivy approach, waving off his question. His eyes narrowed the tiniest bit, and I shook my head again. Ivy coughed, and I caught her giving me the eyebrow. I shrugged, and her eyes flashed between Fang and Damien. She started shaking her head again, and I started to laugh when I caught the gist of what she was saying.

"How do all of you guys do that?" Nudge asked. Ivy and I stopped laughing to find everyone's heads moving to look at Fang, Ivy, Damien, and my own faces. Well, except Iggy, who seemed to be getting some sort of video feed from Angel.

"Do what?" All of us asked at the same time. That seemed to creep them out even more, seeing as Nudge cringed backwards into…Iggy's shoulder? _**When the hello kitty did he get behind her?**_

Ivy snorted again. I scrunched up my nose in her direction and she chuckled at my face.

"We're all sitting here, and you guys just get caught up in this wordless conversation. You give each other looks, and you know exactly what the other person's talking about. It's so strange." Angel said.

I exchanged a look with Fang at the same time Ivy exchanged a look with Damien. Then we all slyly smiled at each other. Ivy and Fang chuckled darkly as I shot Damien a look. He looked back at me, glanced at Ivy, and then shrugged at me. I rolled my eyes back at him.

"See! There you go again!" Gazzy said. I froze, and then said, "Oops."

"ACTUAL WORDS! YES!!" Iggy shouted. I gave Ivy a look and she rolled her eyes, tilting her head toward Jinx. I nodded thoughtfully and her eyes widened slightly before she turned away.

"STOP IT!" Jinx yelled. Ivy started laughing and I couldn't help but join in.

"Anyways, before we have any more random outbursts, we were introducing ourselves, right? So Valerie, or someone from Valerie's flock, it's your turn." Nudge said, eager to get the introductions moving again.

"I'll go last." Ivy said. Everyone was looking at her like, "Ok."

Hope started it off. _**It's like she and Nudge are long lost sisters or something. **_I heard a slight choking noise and my head spun in the direction of Ivy. Her eyes were wide, but unfocused. Then she blinked twice before shaking her head frantically at me. I tilted my head, and then after she looked between Fang and Damien and Nudge and Hope, I started to imagine how horrible it would be if they actually were sisters. My eyes widened and unfocused, and Ivy slowly wrapped her arms around her legs, rocking back and forth in an upward fetal position. Damien immediately started to worry, but she snapped out of it and shook her head at him. He cocked an eyebrow, but she gave him a fierce look and he turned away.

My observations of the two friends' interaction was cut short by Hope's introduction. "My name's Hope. I'm 16 and my favorite color is orange. Because I don't think that orange gets enough love. I like music, and my only special talent, according to Shadow, is that I can be impossibly optimistic and hyper at any time of day. JINX!" It was quiet for the next few seconds, and I took the time to really look at Hope. She had the brown hair with the random green streak in it that went to her shoulders, and she had brown eyes. Her skin was a light mocha, like Nudge's –shudder--, and she was a bit taller than Ivy.

Jinx had black hair and bright blue eyes which were shining almost as brightly as Hope's were. He had skin that was as pale as mine was, and he had a scar on his left hand. He had some baby fat around his cheeks too, but it worked for him. "HI! I'm Jinx, and I'm 16, too. I love the color green, and I can make people think they see more than one of me. I like flying too, and dive bombing onto the ground. Umm, MIRA!"

Mira had tan skin, but not as dark as Ivy's was. Her eyes were dark brown, and she had long mahogany colored hair. It went down to the small of her back, and she was still sitting on Shawn's lap leaning against his chest. I coughed, and Ivy looked at me. I shot a look at the two love birds, and Ivy just sighed, her bangs flying up into the air, knocking her fist against her head. I slumped, and she put her head in her hands. Everyone looked between Ivy and me, but I guess they all decided against asking us. "I'm Mira. I'm 16, I love the color yellow. I like to sing, and I hate Hope's way of waking us up in the middle of the night to say goodnight. But I still love her." And she beamed at Hope. _**Umm, wow. **_Ivy looked at me as if to say 'They do this all the time.' "Ok, Shawn next."

Jinx looked at Hope, who looked at Blaze, who looked at Skye, who looked at Ivy, who rolled her eyes. Then they all simultaneously snorted and did the evil laugh. I cringed backwards. _**Damn crazy hell-bent-on-getting-two-lovebirds-together-bird-kids. **_"Ok. I'm Shawn. I'm 16. I like the color red. I like dive bombing from the sky, and kicking Eraser butt. And seeing Shadow blow stuff up. That is awesome. Ok, Skye, your turn." He had tan skin, as well, but he had brown eyes that had some green specks in it. His hair was black, and hung to about his shoulders. Then again, all of the boys from Ivy's flock had shoulder-or-chin-length hair. _**Had they not heard of haircuts?**_

_Nope._ Ivy shook her head, and glared at Blaze. _And it's all because Blaze started the so called "trend"._

Skye started talking. "Umm, I'm Skye. 16 years old. I was the one who first met Shadow back at the Institute, and after that she became leader. I like the color red, too, and making sure Jinx doesn't get into any trouble with the police is a full time job. Also very fun. I love my music. Oh, and I can see memories." Skye had brown hair that went to the middle of her back, and blue eyes. Her skin was pale, but she did have some tanning working on her. She was sitting next to Blaze.

Blaze had really vibrant red hair—_**I finally get his name now**_--, and his eyes were gray, with some random golden specks in them. He had pale skin, too. "I'm Blaze. 16 years old. I like the color black, and I like to keep Hope from the kitchen so that she doesn't blow it up. Shadow, your turn."

All eyes turned back to Ivy. And that was when I realized that she was really pretty. Her hair was ebony black, and in the light of the fire, it looked like she had a halo. Her skin was very tanned, in Nudge's words "sun-kissed", and she had hazel eyes. She was sort of tinier than everyone else, but she was a little firecracker. She started. "Ok, this could take a while. I've got several names, but you guys can call me either Valerie or Shadow." After this she projected into my head, _You can call me Ivy. You're the only one. _I smiled at that, and she continued out loud. "I'm sixteen. I love my music, and I'm the best with computers or laptops. Damien's my best friend. Leader of my Flock, and my favorite colors are black and blue. I'm the only person who cooks, and I can read minds, project thoughts, and control fire." She stopped talking for a few seconds, and then a grin stretched over Iggy's face. "Excellent." Then Angel yelled, "NO! THE WORLD WILL END!" I looked at her, then decided not to ask.

Everyone settled into smaller side conversations, when all of a sudden, Mira let out a gasp, then a few seconds later, Ivy jumped up. Mira was still sitting on Shawn's lap, and shaking her head slowly from side to side. "Mira, get up." Ivy commanded. _**Is she bouncing?**_

Mira would not be move. "Mira…" Ivy said warningly.

Mira just sat there.

When Mira continued to just sit there, Ivy, impatient from waiting, yelled, "MIRA, STOP BEING A BUTTMUNCH AND GET UP!" Then, she proceeded to drag her into a standing position. _**Not the most patient person in the world, I see.**_

_I told you she was like you, Maximum. In more ways than one._

_**I take offense to that.**_ No reply.

Towing her to the edge of the cage, Ivy looked back with a huge smile on her face. Slowly, understanding and some other emotion spread into Skye's, Hope's, Blaze's, and Jinx's eyes. Shawn just looked confused. The rest of us were still trying to recover from Ivy's unique choice of language. I even saw Fang mouth, "Buttmunch?", shaking his head from side to side.

"We'll be back." Ivy all but sang as she and Mira ran off the ledge and opened their wings, Mira albeit somewhat reluctantly. "Don't come for us unless I send you a mental message telling you to do so. No matter if you hear me scream or not. If I'm screaming, ignore it."

Immediately after their wing beats had faded away, Hope went over to Damien and hugged him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She said, squeezing him to almost death.

He looked at her like she was crazy… oh yeah, right. "For?" He prompted.

"Shadow has never been this alive, or vibrant in 3 years. She was here, you know, but her mind was always somewhere else." Blaze continued for Hope, who was now sniffling and sitting back beside Jinx.

"She did a wonderful job getting us out of the Institute." Shawn stopped talking for a second and looked into the fire, grimacing at something. "Well, mainly. But she never showed more emotion than necessary. She was just a ghost. Showing enough of a reaction to anything that we wouldn't have to wonder if she was still alive, but just worry a lot. And then there were the things she thought we didn't know about."

"It's nice to see her so happy. She's like a sister to me, a mother in some other ways, but overall I call her family. This is the first time that she has ever really smiled when I wasn't in one of her memories. It's a good change." Skye continued from where Shawn left off, and Jinx wrapped it up.

"She's smiling and laughing and actually saying more than monosyllabic sentences, or just communicating with us mentally. Her eyes are brighter, too. So it all comes down to this: Don't leave, we don't hurt you." They all nodded their heads, and Damien said, "Fine. Just a question."

Blaze said, "Shoot."

"What do you mean the things she thought you guys didn't know about?" They all glanced at each other, and said simultaneously, "Ask Shadow." That was all he could get them to say on the subject, so we moved on to other things.

Until we heard Ivy's ecstatic yelling. "I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!" Damien got up, but I warned him with my eyes, and he sat back down. We went back to our conversation.

_**--Same time, on a ledge away from the rest of the group—**_

_**--Valerie POV—**_

"I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT!" I yelled, still squishing Mira to me in a very fierce hug.

She, on the other hand, was not as ecstatic at the news of her realizing that she was in love with Shawn.

"This could ruin everything!" She wailed into my shoulder, tears forming in her eyes. "How can you possibly be so happy at a time like this?"

I pushed her away from me and looked her in the eye. "Because you both _love_ each other! How could I possibly _not_ be happy for the two of you?"

"Because he's my best friend! I trust him with everything! Even my life, if need be. Best friends don't fall in love with each other! And why would he possibly like _me_?" Her voice steadily got softer and softer until it was nothing but a whisper at the end of her speech.

I sat her down on the ground, and sat down with my legs crossed Indian style across from her. "He loves you because you're you. Honey, if I could tell you how much he thinks about you, I'd be talking until after I died. He dreams about you. He's the first person to wonder whether or not you're hurt, even if he's the one who got attacked. And when you do get attacked, he won't let anyone else but me and him touch you. The looks he gives you when you're not looking, or sleeping. You could think that he was a blind man seeing the sun for the first time. _**(A.N. I'm sorry, but I could not resist.)**_

"Did I ever tell you that you guys are adorable when you're sleeping next to each other? No matter what, somehow, someway, you end up in each others arms. Once when we were staying in one of the hotels trying to get here about a month ago, you guys had been rooming with each other. I had already woken up everyone else, so it was only you two left. I opened the door, and stopped dead. You were curled into a ball, and his arms were wrapped around you, and your arms were on his chest, and you were both smiling in your sleep. His head was on your shoulder, and every time you moved even the slightest bit, he would adjust himself so that you would not leave his arms. He was holding you like his life depended on it. I couldn't help but stare. Skye came in after me, asking for something, and stopped dead too. Pretty soon everyone came in, and then we left for you guys to wake up on your own." I purposely didn't mention to her the fact we practically had a field day with taking photos of them. Might push her over the edge.

Mira was staring off over the trees in the direction of the moon. "I remember that day. I woke up and just felt so… safe. So protected and loved. I felt like nothing could possibly get me down." She sounded wistful, and I couldn't help but to think that this was a total un-Mira-like moment. Then she shook her head. "Then I woke up from whatever dream I was in, and I realized that I wasn't supposed to feel that way. So I unraveled myself from him, and went into the bathroom to change."

I heard her continue in her head. **Feeling a very strange empty feeling as soon as I was out of the bed and wondering why.**

I raised an eyebrow at her and then her eyebrows widened. "Crap." She muttered, and put her face in her hands. I scooted over so that I was now beside her, and simply said, "It's ok. He feels the same."

"HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?!" She yelled, stopped, then smacked herself as I chuckled.

She stood up, and opened her wings. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm telling him." I smiled. "You probably won't stop pressuring me until I do, anyways." I smiled and nodded my head. "Hells yeah."

"Figures."

So we flew back to the cave, where everyone was waiting for us still. "Ok, I'm good." I said, plopping down between Max and Damien. Mira stood at the entrance, and was looking at me terrified. "Oh, and Shawn? Mira wanted to talk to you." She thanked me mentally as Shawn got up and they flew away.

"She gonna tell him?" Skye asked as we both looked into the night sky.

"Yep."

"Why aren't we following them then?" Blaze said, getting up.

"Because she is currently scared crapless at the rejection she thinks she'll receive. Let's leave her alone this one time. It's bad enough for her to have to tell it to him. Doesn't need us there silently pressuring her." The rest of my Flock groaned, and sat back down.

"Do we have to sta—"

"Yes."

"Reall—"

"Yes, Shawn."

"Are you su—"

"YES, WE HAVE TO STAY! NOW STOP BEFORE I DECIDE THAT WE NEED TO GO AND SPY! Trying to thoroughly re-convince myself of that." I muttered to myself.

About 30 minutes later, we had relaxed into a more settled atmosphere. Hope had stolen the laptop from me –_As is customary_--, Skye, Jinx, and Blaze were all sitting playing a game of charades. Or, at least, that's what it looked like. Iggy and Gazzy were sitting next to each other, whispering –_Something was going to blow up soon_--, and Nudge was on Fang's laptop with Nudge. Damien was sitting next to me, watching everybody too, and Fang and Max were talking to each other quietly in the corner. My eyes stayed on them, and I briefly wondered if they were together. I heard a small sigh from where Nudge and Angel were sitting.

I looked over and Angel shook her head.

_Why not? _I projected into her head.

**Because they are both too stubborn to admit it to themselves. Though Fang is getting closer to realization.**

_Are you serious? The boy realizes he loves the girl faster than the girl realizes she loves him? What has the world come to? Boys are supposed to be extremely dense!_

**Yeah, I know. Didn't work out to well, but at least they are getting somewhere.**

_How long have you guys been plotting to get them together?_

**How about ever since they hit puberty?**

_Ouch. You have patience, girl. I will join you in your noble efforts to get the two idiots together. And I will try to enlist everyone else in the operation as well._

**Welcome to Operation Fax… we sound like some sort of secret spy agency.**

I tried to picture Angel cart wheeling silently through the halls, only to snap a picture of Max and Fang hugging each other and then handing it to me through an air vent. She threw down some sort of smoke bomb and disappeared in the middle of the hallway, while I crawled my way back to the kitchen where Iggy was waiting to put it in a classified mail envelope and hand it off to Nudge, who would then toss it out the window to Gazzy, who would stealthily scale the wall of the hotel we were in and then we would all meet on the roof –Angel covered in smoke prints, me covered in dust, Iggy in an apron, Nudge with her gloves on, and Gazzy with suction cups on his hands—to sit down and talk about their body language and what they were trying to tell the other without words. Only to hear Max yell "Guys? Where are you?" and all of us disperse, making it back to our rooms with yet another smoke explosion.

The picture came surprisingly easily.

Angel started laughing, and I couldn't help but to laugh at the absurdity of it all, too. "You –giggle-- have a –giggle-- very over –snort-- active imagination. Bwahahahahaha!" Angel managed to get out.

I couldn't control my laughter enough to reply. Everyone was looking at us like we were crazy.

Angel and I sobered up eventually, and that was when we heard the sound of wings beating. They were getting closer, and I waited for Mira and Shawn to finally land.

"We're together." Shawn stated, his arm wrapped around Mira's waist. Hope, of course, squealed and threw herself at them, knocking them both back a few steps. Jinx jumped onto the pile of bird kids next, then me, then Skye, then Blaze. We were all pretty happy that we wouldn't have to hear the entire "He/She can't possibly like me! It's a lost cause. Why do I even try?" speech anymore.

"Oww! Skye! You are squishing my wings!" Jinx yelled.

I yelled back, "Dude! That was my ear!"

"Will you all get off of us?" Mira's muffled voice came from under the pile of bodies we had made on top of her. Slowly we got up, one by one, until finally Mira and Shawn could breathe again.

Max said, "As interesting as that was to watch, I think it's late enough now. Bedtime my guys." There were groans as everyone tried to find a good space to sleep.

"Yup. Max's right. Goes for my flock too. I'm on watch." There were more groans, but eventually everyone from my group settled down in this huge clump. I had to smile, because every time they went to sleep next to each other, they ended up in this giant clump of person the next morning. They all sleep horribly.

I went over to sit by the edge of the cave when I heard Blaze's voice in my head. **Not even going to try to sleep tonight?**

_Let's not take any chances._ He looked at me sadly, before nodding his head and turning around. 

I settled down on the ledge, and listened as everyone else settled into place next to each other. Very soon, I heard the shuffling of feet coming closer, and Damien plopped down next to me. "What's up?" I asked, still looking out for anything that might cause me to do a quick runway.

"You should sleep." He stated, looking out over the forest as I was.

"I know I should."

"So then why aren't you?" He asked.

I looked at him and sighed. "Because I can't."

Damien was silent for a moment, then said, "Try." I shook my head, but settled for curling into a ball cat style, and closing my eyes.

I must have been more tired than I realized, because the next thing I knew, I was sleeping.

But the nightmares hadn't disappeared. The midnight black feather fell to the bloodstained floor, and the nightmares officially began.

* * *

**_DID YA LIKE IT?!?! THEN REVIEW!!_**

**_I love you people._**

**_Sincerely,_**

**_Skittles31_**

* * *


	7. Just like old times

_**Here is the next chapter in my wonderful story "Dancing with Fire". Oh, and a heads up? I probably will end up changing the title of this story in the future. SO FOR ALL OF YOU, IF IT SAYS ITS BY ME, AND HAS MY NAME AS THE AUTHOR, AND THE CHAPTERS ARE THE SAME, THEN IT'S ME!!!**_

_**Just thought I'd let you know.**_

_**Also, I deleted my other Twilight story. Don't go looking for it, it ain't there any more. I'm sorry for all of the people who actually read it and liked it, but there were too little reviews to convince me that it should be continued.**_

_**And it has slipped my mind until this time that I have forgotten to put up a disclaimer for the past chapters. So here it is.**_

_**Disclaimer: If I were James Patterson (who I am not), why would I be on a fan site for my own book? Writing what I wish would happen? In my own books?**_

**_Just some crazy logic._**

_Valerie's thoughts like this_

**Angel's thoughts like this.**

**Damien's thoughts like this.**

_Memories/ nightmare like this._

**_And now, ON WITH THE STORY!_**

* * *

_Let me tell you first and foremost: That red stuff that was splattered all over the floor?_

_That sure as hell was not ketchup._

_I was standing back in the middle of the giant Eraser playroom, and there were bodies lying everywhere. I was the only person still breathing that I could see or hear or sense in my mind. All the corpses were lying face up, and the victims were lying there face up, eyes wide open in this empty expression of absolute horror. Most of the bodies belonged to Erasers, and a stray Flyboy here and there, and I continued making my way towards the door on the other side of the room._

_Every step that I took, the smell of rotting people got even stronger, and I was trying hard to keep myself from gagging. I started to walk faster and faster, and then I swore that I felt one of the corpses move, and I broke into a sprint._

_I took the final step and the cemetery disappeared._

_I was standing in the middle of a forest, and there was rain falling from above me, though I couldn't see the sky. I was running towards a lit clearing I could see ahead of me, half blind from the rain, and not having the slightest clue as to why I was running in the first place. The roots from the trees were making me trip, and the branches kept clawing at my face, trying to keep me from moving forward. There were no animals anywhere, and I briefly wondered if I was back in the fake forest that they had set up at the Institute. _

_I reached the clearing, only to find pavement under me, and I was standing in the middle of a big white room. In the distance I could see a figure far away staring at me, then slowly start walking away. I called out, "HEY!" _

_The figure looked back at me, and I almost didn't recognize the face. "Kami…" I kept running in her direction, and she kept moving farther and farther away from me. It seemed like I kept getting slower and slower, until I couldn't move, and so I was forced into standing paralyzed as she walked farther and farther away, until I couldn't see her anymore._

_Something in me told me to look up, and I did. Another single feather was floating gently down from some unseen point in the sky, and then I was watching every member of my Flock die on the ceiling. In high definition, too._

_Blaze had his chest carved out as he was tied to the wall, but not letting any of his emotions show. __Five left._

_Mira was injected with some substance, and crying out in pure anguish as I stood helplessly, watching her skin begin to crumble and fall off her body. __Four._

_Shawn was shot continuously, the shots ringing out over and over and over again; there was no mercy. __Three._

_Hope was in the middle of a group of Erasers, tied there for their own sick twisted games. She could do nothing but shout out Jinx's name while they tore her apart. __Two._

_Jinx had been lit on fire, and I was forced to watch as his body crumpled to the ground, smoldering. __One._

_Skye was placed in a room, with a timer and no way to get out. She ran around the room, screaming bloody murder until finally the clock ran out, and she was blown to pieces. __And then there were none._

_I stood there, and then as I was staring blankly at the ceiling, tears falling down my face, more pictures started to form. _

_A person in a black cloak coming towards me, with red eyes and a hand curled into a claw._

_Max lying motionless on her front, the only color in the picture being the blood pooling around her on the ground. Fang was grieving beside her, staring at her body and letting the tears crawl down his cheeks. The rest of her Flock was nearby, screaming and wailing at the sky._

_The sky, a vibrant red, showing the rest of the world black._

_A raven, beating itself up trying to get out of its cage. Every time it hit a wall, the cage shook, and what looked like ink ran down the sides._

_A lone figure walking through the streets of a shadowed and abandoned town, wearing a red hoodie._

_A needle lying useless near someone's unconscious—or dead—body, the tip tinged with blood._

_Red and black were the recurring colors in every image that was placed in front of me, and then the ceiling began to open up._

_The people started to scream, and the cries of my own Flock seemed to be the loudest. Everything got louder and louder, and then the mental aspect of the screaming started coming in._

_I could almost feel everyone's pain, and their minds would not be quiet. __This hasn't happened to me since I was about 7, and still in the Institute, when I was first learning how to control that ability. I forgot how much it hurts.__ There was screaming and yelling, both inside my head and out, and I could not take it. I sank to the floor, with my head between my knees, eyes closed, trying to get myself back in control. It was not working. _

_I slowly started rocking back and forth, and then all the white slowly started to turn red. Everything got worse; everything got louder. I was getting a headache. I couldn't take it. The raven's screeching was trying to battle it out with the other person's footsteps. Max's Flock was screaming in pain, and then the explosion from Skye's death was overpowering every other noise. The mental screaming got louder with each minute, and if it did not stop I was going to go insane._

_It seemed that the more I tried to stop the voices, the louder they got. I stared into the distance, trying to focus on something to drown out the noise, where I could see nothing except the outline of a figure getting closer. All I could get about their appearance was a flash of gold, and then gone._

_Blood from every death shown to me started to rain from above and I was completely soaked with the remnants of every flashed picture. It was so hard to handle anything anymore…_

I couldn't breathe, and I flew upwards from my nightmare, nearly choking trying to get air back to my lungs. Everything was spinning, and someone was calling my name, trying to get me to stop thrashing. It took me a few seconds to even vaguely recognize the voice, but the world was still running circles around my head. I grabbed my head-- or at least, I tried--, but someone was holding back my arms. I could hear things like I was underwater now, but I could still hear.

"Shadow!!" was the main thing being screamed, and it took me a while to realize it was me that they were calling.

"Uuuuugggggnnnh." _Brilliant, Val. That will obviously assure them that you're alright._

My head felt like it was splitting in two, and I tried to grab it again to keep what was left of my frying brain from falling out of my ears. Except someone wouldn't let me.

"Lehmeegu..." _Vaguely translated as "Let me go!"_ The voices were getting clearer, but I was still having some difficulty with moving anything so I could smack whoever the hell was holding me down.

"What was that?"

"That's never hap--"

"What was she—"

"I have no idea b—"

"She saw a lot of pictu—"

"EVERYONE STOP TALKING AT ONCE!" _I have enough consciousness to know that was Max who just blew out my left eardrum._

"What were you saying that she saw, Angel?" I think she started a response, but I sent her the message _NO!_

She stopped and sent back, **Why not?**

_Do not worry them. _She sighed, but said, "There were picture flashes, but other than that, I couldn't see anything. I felt the pain, though." I immediately felt bad and projected a "sorry" into her head.

She sent back **"It's okay." **And a smiley face.

I finally got my mouth to move again. And the proper way this time. "Will whoever the hell is holding my arms down please release them so that I can keep my head from falling apart?"

Damien's voice came from behind me. "Undo the flames that are going to burn you first." _So he was the one restraining me…_

I realized that my hands were still on fire, and quickly put them out. I finally opened my eyes.

I was sitting on someone, and everyone was sitting in front of me staring. First words to all my concerned people? "Take a damn picture. It'll last longer."

Max rolled her eyes and said, "Well we know you're alright."

"Damn skippy. Now why is everyone staring at me like I'm the Mona Lisa?"

About 12 out of 14 people's eyes were looking elsewhere all of a sudden. "The nightmares. I have never seen you move so much. You were kicking and screaming, and you were throwing fire everywhere, and everything was getting all heated. We were just planning on throwing some water on you." Hope whispered. I stood up, wobbled, then balanced myself.

"Alrighty then. That was actually one of the better ones. And so I guess I'll be going out for a fly now. Everyone go back to bed, I'm fine." I practically commanded.

"Shadow! You need to res—" Shawn started.

"Screw resting." I said, running and almost stumbling straight over the edge of the cliff the cave we were in was on.

"HOLY SHITAKE MUSHROOMS!! SHADOW DO—"

"Too late!" I yelled back, falling backwards and waving goodbye with a smirk over the edge of the cliff. I twisted myself so I was angled more towards the ground and watched as the ground came closer and closer. About 3 feet from the treetops, I opened my wings and caught a wind current. _Bingo._

**I think you have a death wish. **Angel said wearily in my mind.

_No, I'm just way more exciting than you people. _

I flapped my wings a few times, rising higher in the air, then stuffed my IPod into my ears, dropping the "happy-go-lucky" appearance and scowling in a way I'm pretty sure would not be accepted by any noble woman of society.

_Well too damn bad for them._

"Bleed it Out" came blasting through the eardrums, and I dive rolled onto the top of a tree branch, dropping down lightly from the sky. I hopped from branch to branch, then silently fell onto the ground, and started to punch it wildly.

I didn't even get to the third set of punches when I felt someone begin to hold me back. I struggled, but they lifted me up like it was nothing. _Fudge it._

A hand started rubbing circles right where I had always liked it (right between my wings on my lower back) and I slowly started to drift until everything was fuzzy and with a final yawn, I had gone to bed dreamless.

_**--Damien POV—**_

I carried Val in my arms all the way back to the cave we were staying in. Everyone was still awake when I got there, and finally seemed to start breathing when I had landed with Val. After they checked to make sure that nothing on her had been damaged, they all filed back to their makeshift bed areas, Iggy reminding me that his watch was next. I laid Valerie down on one of the blankets, then proceeded to wrap her fists in gauze. **She puts way too much strain on herself**, I thought, and then grimaced when I looked at her hands again. **And still doesn't think things through before she does them.**

Really, I had just been reunited with her, and here she is already hurting herself. **Just like old times.**

Val moaned and her hands started curling into fists. I quickly started rubbing between her wings again, and she quieted down again. I was happy that I had gotten her to actually sleep the second time. She always automatically, even when she was younger, fell asleep if you rubbed in between her wings for a while. That bit of information has come in handy plenty of times.

But some things never last.

The fire started to get a little more jumpy, and her breathing was getting more labored with every passing second. Her face was scrunching up into a pained expression, and her hands were now clenched so tightly it looked painful. I couldn't get anyone awake, and Iggy's watch was in an hour, so he needed to sleep now.

**Desperate times call for desperate measures.**

I pulled Valerie from the makeshift bed and put her head in my lap. I had done this plenty of times when we were younger, and it always seemed to work. I put my hands on Val's head, and concentrated on a horizon. (Val had always liked watching the sun set.)I kept focusing on the image, and slowly Val seemed to finally get it and stopped freaking out over whatever was happening in her nightmare. She even had a little smile on her face that quickly appeared on my own face.

I remembered the time when I had first discovered that Val liked horizons. We had just broken out of the Institute and were still on our own at 10…

_--Memory—_

_We were sitting on a rooftop, and it was sunset. Val had started a small fire, not big enough to attract attention, but big enough so we were able to get what we needed from it. She had stopped cooking whatever she was cooking (all I knew was that I was eating it) and was sitting there just staring at the sky as the sun set._

_It was silent, then she asked me, "What part of the day do you like the most?"_

_I blinked a few times, not really having expected a question, then answered, "Night time. Why?"_

_She didn't move to even glance at me, then said, "No reason." I frowned. Val wasn't usually this cryptic. I grabbed her chin gently, and turned her head to face me._

_"Val..." I trailed off, her knowing that she had better answer me before I lost my mind. I hated when she was so quiet. It meant that she was thinking really hard, and I hated the fact that she could read minds and hear my thoughts anytime._

_She still didn't answer me._

_"Valerie, answer me." I said again. Well sort of more commanded. She sighed and said, "i just wanted to know."_

_I raised an eyebrow. She sighed again. "It's nice to know that we have the right now to say that we prefer a certain time of day, when before we just wanted the days to end as quickly as possible." I released her chin and she turned back to the horizon._

_A few more minutes of silence passed before I asked her, "What's your favorite time of day?"_

_She looked at me, probably shocked I was even playing along with her little game, and then answered, "Sunset."_

_"Why?"_

_"Because it's sort of bittersweet. Like chocolate with no milk, or times when its raining and the sun is still shining. The day is ending and nighttime starts. People go to bed, the owls come out to play. It's nice." She blurted out. I wasn't done, yet._

_"So then why not like sunrise?"_

_She continued as soon as I finished the question. "Because I like the night better. And it signals the night's finally coming. It's safer... for me, I guess."_

_And then we didn't say anything else on the subject, because dinner was ready._

_--End memory--_

I learned a little while later that apparently sunset was calming for her, too, and if you concentrated on it hard enough and she picked up the image, it helped her calm down.

Like right now.

We stayed like that for 3 more hours, then I threw a rock at Iggy to wake him up, seeing as I couldn't move or Val would wake up. He moved to the front of the cave, and then I fell asleep next to my best friend again.

**Just like old times.**

**_--Next Day--_**

**_--Valerie POV--_**

I woke up shocked. I hadn't been screaming my lungs out, or damaging any skin cells pounding my fists against the cave floor.

I woke up of my own accord. _Well didn't see that coming._

I got up and stretched, getting myself off of Demon's lap, which may be why I got a good night's sleep. I rolled my shoulders, and got to work in silence (mostly Fang's fault), making breakfast for 13 other people besides myself. _I must love these people._

Slowly everyone got up and settled themselves around the fire, eating. Mostly they were laughing about the entire "waking up" escapade they saw my flock go through. As usual, they woke up in a giant clump of limbs.

Eventually the question I had been waiting for came up. Hope asked it.

"Hey Shadow? Where are we going to go?"

I smiled at her and said, "Illinois."This resulted in Mira spitting her water out all over the fireplace. "We're in freaking Nevada! How do you expect us to get there?!?!"

I just loioked at her and said, "Calm down. I know what I'm doing."

Then we took off into the sky, making our way back eastward. _They are going to thank me for this. They'd better._

* * *

**_I hope you liked. It's not as long, but its still review worthy. SO REVIEW, DAMN IT!!_**

**_And to all those people who just read and change the page? You guys are probably too chicken (or you could insert another more vibrantly colorful word if you like) to review. What a shame. Afraid of a little button._**

**_To all who do review after reading? I still love you all dearly. --CYBER KISSES TO ALL--_**

**_Sincerely,_**

**_Skittles_**


	8. Well, that's how family bonding works

_**And without further ado, here, my dear squishies, is the next chapter in Dancing with Fire!!! Oh, and this I dedicate to my dear friend Marianna, whom is who I am channeling with Jinx's character!**_

_**Oh, and just because it is the funniest thing I have ever heard her say, this is Alex's quote of the day:**_

"_**Hey, Zee? What's the synonym for gay in lesbian terms?"**_

_**Yeah, I cracked up too. And nearly choked on the burrito I was eating.**_

_**And now, ON WITH THE STORY!!!**_

* * *

It had now been three days since we had teamed up with Max and her Flock and Damien. And I don't things could have possibly gotten any better.

First off, Damien was back.

Second, Mira and Shawn were finally together.

Third, we were headed to Chicago. I would get to see my first family again.

Well actually, now that I think of it, some things could have gotten better. _Like the fact that Jinx would not stop bopping me in the damn head._

"JINX! I SWEAR IF YOU HIT ME WITH THAT WING ONE MORE TIME I WILL LIGHT YOUR BUTT ON FIRE!!!" The constant wing bops stopped, and I turned over (now flying upside down) to see Jinx looking at me pleadingly. **Shadow, please help me.**

I nodded. We both flew up higher into the air, and then he started. "Umm, do you know if Hope has any sort of romantic feelings for me? At all?" He said, rather nervously for someone like Jinx.

Then I realized what he said. _What am I, Cupid?_

Then I thought about it. _I have three pairs of couples who are just dying to get together. One I actually succeeded with, and now I have to get the other two together. This is a damn fulltime job._

"Sorry, Jinx. Not the slightest clue. Not exactly one for gossip." I said. "But, I could ask her some stuff, input them to you, and then you could get your happy ending, too."

His face could have split in half from the grin that took over his face. Then he dive tackled me, and we both went spiraling towards the ground, both of us screaming for completely different reasons.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!JINX,GETYOURWINGSFROMOUTOFMYAIRSPACE!!!WE'REGOINGTOGOSPIRALINGDOWNINTOTHEEARTHANDWEAREN'TGOINGTOEVERSEETHEOTHERSAGAIN!!!!INEVERGOTTOSEEPARIS!!!HELPMESCRUBS!!!AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!" _**(A.N. Translation: Aaaaaaaaahhh!! Jinx get your wings from out of my airspace! We're going to go spiraling down into the Earth and we aren't going to see the others again! I never got to see Paris! Help me Scrubs! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!)**_

"THANKYOUSHADOW,MYDEARLITTLESISTERWHOIOWEALOTOFSTUFFTOBYNOW!!!YOUHAVEMADEMYDAYANDIPROMISEIWILLREPAYYOUWHATEVERYOUWANT!!!!BUTTHANKYOUSOMUCH!!!! THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!!!!!!!YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"_**(A.N. Translation: Thank you Shadow, my dear little sister who I owe a lot of stuff to by now! You have made my day and I promise I will repay you whatever you want! But thank you so much! Thank you thank you thank you thank you! Yippeeeeee!)**_

Guess who was screaming what.

At this point, my entire life was flashing in front of my eyes. _Wow, I was an adorable 3 year old. _We were getting closer to the ground and had long since passed the rest of the flocks. I could hear screaming from somewhere, but then I realized that that was me and Jinx.

_I never realized how loud we could be if we tried._

The treetops were now within 100 feet of us, and we were still screaming. And for the life of me, Jinx could not untangle his wings from mine.

And then Jinx fainted on me. _OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!_

I started to jerk Jinx's arms away from me, and then using my control over the fire, I used it to make us hover about 15 feet from the treetops. Problem being that I couldn't stop us in time, and we went crashing through the treetops.

I heard everyone yelling at us, Hope, Damien and Max being the loudest, but I couldn't seem to stop crashing through the trees. I had managed to stop Jinx's falling a few yards up.

I, on the other hand, was still tumbling towards the ground. Eventually, I stopped with the constant downward spiral, and was just lying on a tree branch.

_Inventory:_

_My shirt is completely ruined, and my jeans have now way too many tears to be considered fashionable. A few scratches. Didn't land on anything wrong. My book bag is not damaged. I'm pretty okay, just need to change outfits._

Above me, Angel yelled out, "SHE'S OKAY!!! AND SO IS HE!!!"

And then Gazzy yelled, "OW! ANGE, THAT WAS MY EAR!"

I rolled over, stretched cat style, and lightly hopped down the rest of the feet to the floor (honestly not that many). Stripping off my shirt and quickly pulling on a new one --_Never was one for modesty_-- I realized I was in what could have easily been described as one of the most beautiful places in the USA.

I was standing in front of a clean river with a little waterfall. It had lots of little flowers and the grass was really soft. It probably wouldn't seem special to any normal person, but then again I never was one to follow the crowd.

Taking a look at my reflection, I combed out my hair, which was now easily sticking out all over the place. After grabbing my book bag from off the floor again, I started to climb the tree and make my way back to the flocks again.

"And there she is." Blaze muttered, me being thrown backwards by the force of Jinx's tackle. "OMIWOLVERINE!!! I AM SO SORRY, SHADOW!!! I DIDN'T MEAN TO HURT YOU!!" I slapped my hand over Jinx's mouth before he went into full- on guilt mode.

"I'm still alive. So stop apologizing." I sent into his head _I may even end up doing something that on my own time._

"Oh for the love of hot dogs!" Angel yelled out, mentally nudging me. I sent her a glare.

That was when I realized that everyone was staring at me. "What?"

Hope, of course, spoke. "You're wearing a cute shirt." She noted. _Alrighty then…_

"Well! Thank you for that compliment, darlin'. And now that we have that over with—"

"You look like a girl." Shawn put in. I don't know why this could have _possibly_ angered me, but it did. I could practically feel my eyes (which are usually hazel colored) blacken really quickly. I growled at him, and after he stepped back, I whipped around and took off on the branch I was on, pissed as all hell.

I could hear right before I plugged my headphones into my ear Damien say, "Dude. You are screwed. Val doesn't just let her eyes blacken like that and let it go. The longer she doesn't do anything to you, the worse your punishment is going to be when you finally get it." _And how right he was._

About 3 minutes later, everyone else was in the air with me, and Angel was trying to help me decipher what Shawn had meant when he commented on my change of clothes. Without my having to roast him alive, which was my quick solution to that problem. Until Angel reminded me that Mira could have possibly missed her boyfriend. Resulting in more analysis from the two of us.

**Well, what I think he meant to say was that you looked really pretty. Since you never really wore clothes like the one you're wearing now before, from what I'm getting in your memories. He's trying to be the older brother, but he just messed up his wording really badly.**

_Well he should have said it differently. It made him sound like he was calling me a boy. I am a girl, I do have a my girly problems, and damn skippy I still crush over Orlando Bloom! Just because I'm leader and a bit of a tomboy doesn't mean that I can't be female period._

**That's not what he was trying to say. It's just that, from both his memories and yours, you always wore extremely baggy dark clothes. Like stuff that Fang would wear. It was a nice change for him. Oh, and Damien is trying to get your attention.**

_Thank you Ange. But this is not over. Not by a long shot._

**No problem! And I didn't think it would be. I just didn't want anyone dead.**

I tuned out of my mental conversation with Angel and turned over, once again to Damien, who was flying above me as usual since two days ago. That was when he had asked me about the day when we busted out of the Institute the second time. When I told him everything, needless to say, he was pissed. He still sees me as the little kid who he always used to try to take care of at the Institute. So that conversation about what had happened did not sit well with him. At all.

_--Memory—_

_It was nighttime, and I was on watch, once again. And Demon was sitting next to me, trying to convince me that I needed to just go to sleep for once, once again. And I was pointedly ignoring him. _

_Once again._

"_You need your sleep, Haze." He said, using the pet name he had given me back when we were at the Institute._

"_Demon," Hey, if he wanted to play the nickname game, then bring it on. "I don't need that much sleep. Remember the last time you told me to go to bed? And then remember what happened after that?" Silence was my answer._

_Valerie 1, Demon 0._

_It was quiet for about the rest of a minute, before D asked me, "Val, what exactly happened when you guys broke out of the Institute? 'Cause Shawn told me that you did a mostly good job leading, and then he winced."_

_I purposely kept quiet, because telling this to D, he would probably end up having a heart attack or something of the sort._

_Damn drama king._

"_Umm…Nothing." __Real smooth, V. That'll convince him._

_He turned and glared at me. "Bullcrap. Tell me now. I have the right to know. I am the older one. I'm supposed to be taking care of you."_

_HE DID NOT JUST PULL THE DAMN AGE CARD! On other matters, if I don't tell him anything now and he acts like this, what would happen when I told him something to get pissed about? _

"_Umm, well… IsortofstabbedmyselftogettheattentionofthewhitecoatssothatIcouldblowupthecomputers? And then took on about 20 Erasers on my own to distract them when the others went away while I was still bleeding profusely from a major blood vessel in my arm?" It all came out like a question due to my nervousness._

_There was silence, and quite frankly I was scared poopless of what his reaction would be—_

"_WHAT?!?"—although I knew it would end up being something like that._

"_How could you have been so stupid?!" He was practically breathing fire right about now. Hehe. Breathing fire. I control fire. And dear Lord, I'm tired._

"_I'm fine now. It just took a lot of wrapping of my arm." I think this pissed him off even more._

"_Anything else you would like to tell me before I explode?" He asked very tensely. "Umm, no." I added quietly. __At least nothing you need to really know of._

"_Good. But I am keeping an eye on you from now on to make sure you don't do anything as stupid as that again."_

_--End Memory--_

To get to where we are now.

"Yes, D?" I asked after taking the ear-buds out of my ears.

"Are you OK?" I nearly growled again. _What is with me and my growling? I'm only two percent animal of any kind!_

"You don't need to check up on me every 5 seconds, man! I can breath perfectly fine! I'm not going to fall out of the damn sky." I shot to his face, then turned over and, just to spite him, folded my wings and dropped a couple hundred feet, then twirled back upwards to glare defiantly at him.

I was not in the mood for any of this crap, but Demon was pissed at me just as much as I was pissed at him.

And then, speaking of falling out of the sky, Max screamed and began to drop like a feathered stone, clutching her head.

_Well this day just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?_

* * *

_**Well, how'd you like it?!?!? REVIEW!! IT MAKES ME HAPPY!!**_

_**CYBER HUGS FOR EVERYONE!! –throws out to the crowd free cookies--**_

_**Peace, love, and that stuff that Ava's cat just puked up,**_

_**Skittles31**_


	9. Panthers

**_HEY GUYS!! IT'S Skittles!_**

**_Sorry for not having updated in so long, but I was really busy. There's a musical I'm in, and my teachers were all evil and decided to pack on the long term projects and the tests and quizzes. Ugh. It was horrible._**

**_BUT I'M BACK. And here is the next chappy to the story "Dancing with Fire"._**

**_Disclaimer: Owning Maximum Ride is way up there for me on the "Impossible List", right beside "Edward Cullen whisking me away in his silver Volvo to marry him" and on the other side of "growing wings and joining the Flock"._**

**_And now that that little tearage of my soul is out of the way, ON WITH THE STORY!!_**

**Angel's thoughts are like this.**

**_Max's thoughts are like this._**

_Shadow/Valerie's thoughts are like this._

**Any other person's thoughts are like this.**

_**

* * *

**_"LAND NOW!" Fang yelled with Max in his arms, rather pointless though seeing as all of us were already heading towards the ground, dropping like little feathered stones. Good news was we were still over the forest that we had previously landed in, so we had cover from any discovery.

After about 2 minutes of emergency landing, we had all managed to land on the ground and were now crowded around Max waiting for her to stop screaming. Angel and I had joined forces, trying to send her more pleasant images to distract her from the pain.

It wasn't working.

Finally, about 2 minutes later, Max came to, after Fang nearly had a mental aneurism. "MAX!" Nudge yelled, that probably being the shortest sentence I had ever heard come out of her mouth, and then hugged her tightly…_Or maybe it was a tackle? You can't be sure of these things with Nudge_.

Max patted her on the head, and after an unspoken conversation with Fang and his eyes, she started a mental conversation with me. _**Are we going to keep heading to Illinois?**_

_If you don't mind. Can you fly? No. Better question. Will Fang allow you to fly?_

She glared at me, and I smiled angelically. _**He'd better. He's not my keeper.**_

_Whatever you say, Maxie dear. _I thought to myself, then chuckled at how similar Max and I were. And then I froze.

_Hey Skye?_

**Yeah, Val?**

_What day is it today?_

**Umm, I think it's the third day since Max and her Flock joined us. So I guess it's the 10****th**** of March.**

_Thank you, baby doll._ I said, still crouching almost statue-like as I counted the days over and over and over again. Then I jerked myself into a standing position, and grabbed both Hope and Skye's hands, towing them behind me in the direction of a town that we had seen not just a little while back. Throwing myself into the air after seeing the other two take off, I yelled back to the others, "BE BACK IN A SECOND!"

As soon as we were back in the air, Skye and Hope were waiting to ambush me. "Where are we going?"

Without turning back to them, I sent them the thought, _It's my time of month._

The simultaneous thought that I got back? **Oh.**

We flew in relative silence the rest of the way to the town, and then we landed in one of the alleyways. Pulling on my cropped leather jacket and picking the twigs and leaves out of Hope and Skye's hair, I headed out of the alley and into the nearest convenience store. Heading straight to the cash register after getting my "supplies", I threw the credit card that I had stolen a very long time ago from Itex down onto the counter and waited for the cashier to check out my items.

The guy behind the counter said, "You know you don't have to pay." I looked at him, shrugged and said, "Okay." Then I gathered the stuff off the counter and began to walk out.

"Wait!" The guy yelled back at me. I turned around. "I was going to say that you didn't have to pay if you went on a date with me."

Beside me, Skye and Hope looked at each other, then looked at me and said, "Buh-bye," walking out and leaving me stranded with a guy who wanted a date with me. _Fudge._

"Umm. Did you just ask me out?" _I swear this guy needs to have his eyes checked._

"Yes." _Well this guy must be crazier than Jinx and Hope combined on a sugar rush._

"Are you sure you were asking me? You know what? I bet you were talking about one of my friends that were in here before. I'll go get the both of them and you can choose which one you were talking to." I babbled, already getting ready to bolt out of the store.

I mean, its not that he was that bad looking. I swear, that wasn't it. He had really cute dimples, and dark brown eyes, and he was really tan and had long black hair tied into a ponytail. He was also pretty muscular, and as an overall guy on the outside he was pretty good looking.

He laughed at me. "You act as if you've never been asked out before." _Well, in all actuality…_

Then he took a look at my sheepish expression, and his jaw dropped. "No way…"

Just a question for all you regular girls out there: Is this what it's like to actually be asked out by a guy? Should it really feel this out of character? All strange?

"Well, I'm sorry, but I don't have time. Me and my friends are just passing through. I don't have time for a date. And I've never been on one, so I wouldn't be that much company to you." I said, staring at my feet.

"Well, I should just ring you up and we'll both be on our ways." He said, actually taking my turning down of a date rather well. _Huh. _

As I walked out of the store, I turned back and with a genuine smile said, "Bye, Jose!"

And then I got ambushed by Skye and Hope. "WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY YES?!?!" Hope screeched into my ear.

"You know, I really should kill the both of you. You left me in there all by myself with a guy who wanted a date! From me! He must have been loony!" I said, trailing off into mumblings with myself.

"But you got asked on a DATE!" Skye said, still incredulous. "Why couldn't you have possibly said yes to the poor man? His confidence on asking out such a beautiful girl is probably shot down to below hell." She continued dramatically.

We all looked at each other, and then simultaneously started laughing so hard we nearly weren't able to take off. When we got in the air, I finally was able to stop laughing and warned them that the topic was not to be discussed once we got back to the others.

Of course, I should have never told that to them, because as soon as we touched down onto the floor of the campsite where the others were, Skye yelled out, "SHADOW GOT ASKED OUT ON A DATE!!"

"SKYE!! I HATE YOU!!" I yelled, tackling her to the ground. We started rolling, and then it turned into an all out tickle war. **Okay then…** Angel added in my head.

"WAIT, WHAT!! YOU GOT ASKED ON A DATE?!?!" I heard (I couldn't see anything, we were rolling too fast) Nudge scream. "BY WHO?!"

_Damn you Skye._

Finally getting the upper hand, I sat on top of Skye and glared at her. _You suck._

**No, I suck awesomely.**

Iggy turned against me immediately. _Damn you, big brother, damn you._ "Well, my little sister is turning heads already. Our little heartbreaker."

I glared at him, even though he couldn't see it, and got up silently. "Igs?"

"Yes, dearest sister of mine who wouldn't do anything to hurt me?"

"Bite me. I'm chocolaty." I growled at him, and then tackled him without any restraint from anyone.

"That's one I haven't heard before." I heard Max mutter from somewhere to my left.

Still rolling around on the floor with Iggy, I managed to get the upper hand and sat on him, trying to put all of my weight on his stomach. He laughed at me. _What is it with people laughing at me today?_

"You seem to think that the amount of weight that you possess is enough to keep me down on the ground! Well you are wrong, my dear sister! Wrong, I say!" And then he flipped me over, and started to tickle me again. _Damn it! _I saw a camera flash go off in my peripheral vision.

"GAH! NO! S-STOP! DAMN I- HAHAHAHAHA!" I couldn't even speak properly. _Damn my being the most ticklish part human being on earth! And what is with me damning any and everything today?_

Everyone, I realized, was now just seated around us, as if watching a show. _Well, I guess we are a bit of a site to see…_

After Iggy stopped tickling me, and I finally stopped laughing, Nudge (who, I kid you not, was bouncing up and down waiting for information) asked me, "What did he look like?!?!"

I looked at her and said, "Well, in all honesty, I think he looked a little bit like Taylor Lautner."

A collective gasp went around our little circle that, now that I realized, was completely made up of only girls. Even Max _–Le Gasp—_was sitting in the middle of our little gossip session.

"You mean TAYLOR EFKIN LAUTNER ASKED YOU OUT ON A DATE?!?!" Mira yelled.

I laughed at her as Iggy finally stopped sitting on me and completely cutting off my breathing supply. "No, baby girl. I said he _looked_ like Taylor Lautner, not that he actually was Taylor Lautner." _Ah, my family._

Everyone else just sat silent for a few seconds, then Max said, "You know, Val, you sort of remind me of a panther."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, I was just watching the way you tackled both Skye and Iggy, and I never realized how gracefully you moved before." She continued with her epiphany.

"Are you guys done talking about the dude?" Gazzy yelled over from where the boys had congregated to get away from the girl gossip.

"Yeah! Now we're talking about what kind of an animal Shadow is most like!" Angel yelled back.

As everyone came by, they all added in their thoughts on the subject.

"I think she's like some sort of cat. Graceful." I looked at Shawn. _Apparently he's spent some time thinking about this before._

"Yeah, that's what we said. And she's all fierce when she wants to be, really dangerous. And she cares about the rest of us. So I guess she's a cat too." Nudge said, and everyone else nodded.

"Umm, okay… Just keep talking about me like I'm not here." I said, turning around to walk away.

"She has a bit of an attitude, too." Shawn added. _He's just on a roll of horrible things to say today, isn't he?_

The shrub near him burst into flames. "Well it's true," he said.

"Can we keep going now?" I asked, opening my wings and getting ready to take off.

"Yeah, yeah sure, Madame Panther." Iggy called to me.

I pretended I didn't hear him.

* * *

**_Heya guys, this is sort of a filler. But I wanted to have some almost normal interaction for Shadow and the girls with the outside world. Oh, and it's goign to be really fun writing about Shadow on her time of month._**

**_Plus, it's also really important for the actual plot later on. _**

**_Bwahahaha, I'm evil for dropping all these hints and not revealing anything._**

**_Love, hugs, and freeze dried underwear,_**

**_Skittles_**


	10. Receptionists and Boyfriends for Val?

**_The long awaited next chapter of Dancing with Fire!!!!! _**

**_Now now, you can stop applauding. I know I'm awesome and all, but seriously, yall can stop now. ENJOY!_**

**_And now, ON WITH THE STORY!!!!_**

* * *

"We're finally HERE!!" I yelled, channeling Hope and Jinx as we soared down into the alleyways of Chicago. I was ecstatic that we had finally made it, and just as nighttime was coming, too. Plus, we had made it before Demon's birthday, which was the even more important thing. It was March 16th, thank gosh. His birthday was tomorrow.

Everyone landed softly behind me, looking at me as though I were crazy. Which, if they hadn't figured that out by now, then they didn't really know me at all.

"Umm… that's great, Val…" Skye said, eying me out of the corner of her eye. We all walked out of the alley attempting to camouflage with the rest of the people that were walking through the streets. _And that was a lot of people._

Instinctively, Skye grabbed onto me, and I took Mira's hand that wasn't occupied by Shawn's hand, all of us eventually forming one long, spaghetti-like structure of Avian American. _Mmm... Spaghetti..._

I was hungry! Don't look at me like that!

We were able to twist and turn ourselves, and keep everybody together all at once until we found a hotel. I bounded up to the receptionist, smiling my "HI! Please give me a room before I drop kick you into next week!" smile at him.

"How can I help you?" He smiled, looking a bit constipated if you asked me. Angel snickered quietly behind me.

"I need four rooms, preferably next to each other, please?" I said, putting my wonderful acting skills to use. _Because I'm always this pleasant to random strangers. How could you possibly think otherwise?_

"Ah, long day?" Mr. Receptionist Man asked as he typed the information into the computer. We had apparently interrupted him in the middle of a game of Solitaire. Whoops.

"You don't know the half of it." I said, adjusting myself so that I was leaning on the desk to "keep my feet from giving out".

"Where you going?"

I stopped short, and lied, my trust issues with strange men in uniforms and paranoia kicking in. "We're going on a road trip across the states, trying to make it to the California coast." I made my smile seem more genuine and tired at the same time, not like I was dying to get out of this lobby and very suspicious of this man.

"Just you and some friends?" _Why in the name of freeze dried calamari are you so interested?!_

"Yup." I said, giving Senor Suspicious my credit card to pay for the rooms. He swiped it quickly, and gave it back to me. I slid it into my pocket, and turned my attention back to the receptionist, who had that phony/ constipated smile still on his face.

His eyes left my face for a few seconds, and I looked into his head. He was pretty lonely and bored, just wondering when his shift would be over. Nothing suspicious. Just... extremely creepy.

And then he threw me a question that bowled me over. "Hey, where's your boyfriend?"

Everyone's minds perked right up at this, I realized. Well, the girls were all curious. The boys, Iggy and Demon especially, wanted to make this guy their personal punching bag.

_Down, boys._ I sent in all directions to all the guys' heads. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw that it didn't do much.

"Excuse me? Sorry, I spaced." I said, keeping the act of "totally normal teenager" up.

"Where is your boyfriend? I see all your other friends have paired up. You're the only one alone." _Senor Nosy, have I mentioned how much you are annoying me right now?_

Without warning, Demon came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. "What's wrong here?" he said, placing his head on top of mine.

Because I couldn't just push him off and yell, "WHAT THE HEDGEHOG ARE YOU DOING?!?!" (at least, not here and at this moment,) I took a different approach to the situation, and leaned back into his chest.

"Mmm, talk to nice man. Me tired." I mumbled, and closing my eyes, making it seem like I was half asleep.

Demon chuckled and slung me over his back, wrapping his arms around my legs which were around his waist and helping the very "sleepy" me --In all honesty, I wanted to smack the crap out of him. Just where did he think he got off, pretending to be my boyfriend?!?!? Angel, what I could see of her from my new position, was smothering her giggles in Max's side.—put my arms around his neck. Turning my head so I was somewhat comfortable, I settled into the position of "sleeping Val, spazzing panther". This is not one of your old yoga positions.

In this "yoga position" that I was currently in, it looked like I was sleeping peacefully while in a piggy back position, when in all reality, I was freaking out on the inside and plotting my best friend/ pseudo-boyfriend's demise. Angel was nearly on the floor, dying of laughter.

I mentally told Demon, _You. Will. Die. A. __**Very**__. Painful. Death._

He concealed a chuckle that I felt vibrate through his body. _Damn evil…demon._

Angel had tears streaking down her face. And I had a feeling that she was sending everyone else my thoughts of the situation now as well, because Fang had a rather noticeable smirk on his face; Max was laughing nearly as hard as Angel was; Nudge was smothering her cackles in Iggy's shirt; Iggy was smiling like a hyena; Gazzy had run over to the couch and was attempting to get air into his lungs… and return his facial color back to normal; Skye was vibrating next to Blaze, who had a hand over his mouth; Mira and Shawn were falling all over each other, trying to stay upright; Hope and Jinx were already on the floor, each of their faces tinged slightly purple.

And notice no one was even trying to smack Demon for me. All the girls had content looks on their faces, and the boys didn't look murderous anymore. They were all just laughing at my misery. _Damn evil hell spawn bird children!_

Everyone was still laughing at my expense.

Senor Nosey finally stopped asking questions once he saw Demon lift me up and put me on his back. I was ready to light some stuff on fire—including my dear best friend. And everyone was still laughing at me and Demon's little situation, even after we had walked out of the lobby and into the elevator. As soon as the doors closed, I jumped off of Demon's back, and smacked him upside the head. "What the fudge did you do that for?!?" I whisper yelled at him.

"He was looking at you funny!" Demon whisper yelled back at me, rubbing his head as we walked out of the elevator to stand in front of our hotel room. The others in my flock simply passed us after taking their keys and went into their rooms.

"You-! He-! Tha-! UUGGGH!!! Just UUGGGHH!!" I yelled at him, stealing the key and stomping into my—our room. Then I turned back and hugged him. "Thank you, though. Shows how much you care."

_He must be so confused. Serves him right._

_

* * *

_

**__****_Just a filler. I'm getting to the real action in the next chapter. And that is where everything in the plot starts coming together. Pay attention._**

**_Peace, love, and electrically charged bunnies,_**

**_Skittles_**


	11. Extended Family and Bad Movies

_**HELLO SMALL PEOPLE OF THE UNIVERSE!!! HERE IS THE NEXT CHAPTER.**_

**_I know the world must be ending. Skittles actually got out two chapters at once._**

**_BUT LOOK OUTSIDE!! THE SKY ISN'T FALLING, AND EDWARD CULLEN HAS NOT SWEPT ANY OF US GIRLS OFF OF OUR FEET, AND NO COWS HAVE STARTED A MONARCHY._**

**_THUS THE WORLD HASN'T ENDED!_**

**_Now, ON WITH THE STORY!!!_**

**_Disclaimer: I ownly own Valerie, Demon and Valerie's Flock. No more. No sue._**

**_

* * *

_**_**--Time Lapse—**_

_Iggy, wake up!_ I mentally woke up my favorite brother as I stood pacing in the hallway of our hotel floor. A few minutes and a dull thud later, Iggy was standing in front of me.

"Do you know what time it is?!?" He whisper yelled at me.

Keeping my composure—and managing not to fall over from the need to sleep--, I nodded. "Yup. 1:30 in the morning. Get your jacket and backpack and let's go."

Rolling his eyes, but stepping back into his room anyways, Igs re-emerged with said jacket, better street clothes and back pack on. "Where in the name of sleep are we going this early? I like to _sleeeep._" He said, emphasizing the last word almost as if he were drunk. I stopped to ponder Iggy's usage of drugs and alcohol, then shook the idea out of my mind, trying to keep my focus. Harder than you think when all your brain wants to do is sleep, now that it's gotten used to the idea again.

Stealthily moving in front of him, I said, "You are going to meet a few friends of mine who can help you with your vision."

He stopped moving. "The last time someone said that…"

"I know. You got your vision taken away. But listen to me. She knows what she's doing. She's a healer, and I trusted her when I was younger with my life. I haven't seen her in three years, since I disappeared from my other family, but I still trust her." I said, stopping my moving to stand in front of him.

I put my arm on his forearm, and he jumped. "It is so creepy. You and Fang don't make any noise when you move. It's so hard to sense you when my brain is still foggy from _lack of sleep_. Coughcoughsniffsniff." Iggy poked at me, and I understood the underlying question in his tone.

"I'm sorry, but I had to get you up this early so we could get a) your sight back and b) help me bake a cake for D. It's his birthday… later… on…" I trailed off. "You know what I mean! Please Ig?" I mentally sent him the picture of me doing the Bambi eyes.

He groaned. "If you use that face ever, I will never be able to refuse you…"

I snickered. "You really should not have just said that."

"I know. Let's go."

Smiling, I led Iggy down the hallway, out of the hotel, and into the air. Flapping my wings, I was a more natural guide for him, and we flew over Chicago to where my old friend Gina said she would be meeting us in a construction zone.

Landing, we pulled our wings in, and I looked around. I turned my attention back to Iggy and said, "I really don't like this construction site. It just seems too "Evil villains going to attack you" for my use. Like in all the movies. People usually start flipping all over the place, and then there is blood everywhere and people are going all airborne and getting caught in cement mix and then all the little people would be all lying on the ground and their eyes would be all "Tilt." And then the good guys would be all "WE DID IT!" And then the big fat evil guy would be all "You want a piece of me?!" And the good guys would be all "Bring it on, Fatso!" And then it would be all "Oof!" and "Urg!" and "Ouch!" and "KAPPOW!" And then Fatso would be all "NO! I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS!" and then slowly limp away to his getaway car. And everyone would be all "YAY! WE DID IT!" The way they can only be that super- fake happy in the movies. And then the girl would leap into the guy's arms in a dress that was way too tight for her own good. And she'd be all, "I luuuurv you!" And then the guy would be all "I luuuurv you too!" And it would be all "HAPPILY EVER AFTER! THE END!" I _**hate **_that." I ranted.

There was a moment of silence, then Iggy asked me, "Did you trade places with Nudge or something?"

"I have no idea." And then there was laughter. Laughter that didn't come from Iggy or me, but I recognized.

"Ash, your rants haven't changed a bit!" Gina said as she stepped forward from out of the darkness, her tail—yes, you heard me right, a tail—swishing back and forth as she came forward to hug me.

"I missed you!" I said, laughing as she stretched me her cold arms to hug me. It would take some getting used to—again-- but I could manage.

I looked at her eyes, which were the same golden color that I remembered them. "I really missed you too, Caramel." Gina said softly, as she called me the pet name that she had reserved for me when I was younger. She used to say it was because of the color of my eyes when I was happy.

I pulled away, and said, "I can sense the rest of you, you know!" And then I got tackled into the ground.

Exie (Short for Extreme) was hugging me fiercely, squealing, "YOU'RE BACK! YOU'RE BACK! YOU'RE BACK!" over and over and over again. Her golden eyes were practically shining with happiness. After a while she let me get back up.

After finally getting my sense of balance back, I was pulled into a hug by Gem, one of the mouse hybrid identical twins. "Your emails were what kept us going," she said softly. _Gem always was the soft spoken one._

"And I can't believe I didn't put together you were coming!" Mini said, coming closer to wrap her arms around my waist and spin me around a couple of times. _I still don't know how this one and Gem could possibly be related. I mean really, POLAR OPPOSITES!_

I stepped away and looked at the small part of my family from three years ago. They all were still gorgeous, still had the same pretty golden eyes, and still looked the same as a few years back. _**(A.N. I hope you guys get where this is going…)**_

"It's nice to know that you guys still care," I said, practically radiating happiness. Then, after I managed to stop smiling, I got down to business. "Exie, I need your help though."

"Sure, Val, wuzzup?" Exie said, bouncing over to me in the graceful manner that she seems to do everything. Her monarch butterfly wings were let out behind her.

Going back to Iggy, who was several yards behind me, I pulled him forward. "They don't bite," I said, teasing him about his sudden nervousness.

Exie, Gina, Gem, and Mini all shared a secret smile, and turned back to us.

Pulling Iggy up beside me, I introduced him. "Guys, this is my brother of about a week, Iggy. He's like me, an avian experiment. Iggy, say 'Hi' to the nice people!"

"Hi." _Hmm…Very out of character for Iggy…_

"Exie, I need you to help me with him. Iggy's been blind for all 17 years of his life, and I would like it very much if that ended tonight… today…"

Exie—_God bless that child_—immediately said, "Sure! Any friend of Ash's is a friend of mine! Come here, Iggster!" _How does anyone have that happy of an attitude when a majority of the rest of this side of the world are sleeping?!_

Iggy stepped forward. Well, actually, in all reality, he shuffled. It took him about 15 seconds until he actually got to Exie. The poor kid was deathly pale and trembling uncontrollably. I, being the good sister that I am, stepped forward and held his hand. I squeezed once, and he squeezed back. Iggy finally stopped trembling.

"You ready?" Exie asked quietly. Iggy took a deep breath and nodded. Ex stretched up --_We all have to; the kid's the tallest out of all of us bird kids, and pretty freakishly tall even for our standards!_—and gently put a hand on Iggy's face, over his eyes, and I waited for some pixie dust to come flying out of her fingers, for her hand to start changing colors or start glowing. Something.

All that changed was the amount of seconds that had passed by. Some wind blew my hair to the side, and I looked up to the moon. It was full tonight, and the stars were shining brightly.

About 30 seconds later, Exie moved her hand from Iggy's face, and stepped away.

"Igs?" I asked timidly, hoping for his sake that it had worked. My voice seemed loud out here in the early hours of the morning, and I lowered it. "You OK?"

Slowly, Iggy's eyelids fluttered open, and I waited patiently, gripping tighter to his hand. I was suddenly the nervous one, and I resisted the urge to run a hand through my hair like I usually did as a nervous habit.

Iggy turned his head to me, and said, "It worked, sis." There were tears in both of our eyes. My hazel ones, and his now dark blue eyes.

I smiled a watery smile. "Welcome to the land of the seeing, bro."

And that was when Mini fainted. _She has some of the best timing._

Iggy turned to Exie and choked out a "Thank you" before bursting into tears and slumping to the ground. The reality of the situation hit me in that moment, and my emotions came rushing back to me. Besides the need to sleep, I was happy—elated, actually--, grateful, excited, and relieved. I was bouncing in place, and everything seemed so happy and wonderful I could practically _feel _myself glowing.

Gina let out a half crazed giggle, belting out at the top of her lungs to the tune in Peter Pan, "HE CAN SEE! HE CAN SEE! HE CAN SEE! HE CAN SEE! HE CAN SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

I was twirling around, spinning in circles, laughing up to the moon, with tears running down my cheeks. I was sleep- depraved, and hungry, and nearly slap-happy, but I was bouncing off the walls. I probably looked like some person on drugs, but I was OK. _IGGY COULD SEEEEEE!!!!!!_

Exie was trying to revive Mini, with that content smile lighting up her face. I don't think I could thank her enough.

Gem was just an observer, still as happy as the rest of us, and just chuckling as we all made fools of ourselves.

Iggy, finally drying his eyes, ran over to Exie and thanked her profusely. Then he looked around, and after spotting me, ran over, picked me up, and spun me around as we both laughed crazily.

"I CAN SEE!"

"YOU CAN SEE!"

"I CAN SEE!"

"YOU CAN SEE!"

He put me down and asked if I had the camera, the gleam never leaving his now seeing eyes. I nodded rather spastically and gave it to him, and asked Gina to take a rather crazy picture of us, both of us smiling, tear tracks still on either of our cheeks, and back to back in a Charlie's Angel position. Then Iggy threw me over his shoulder and spun me, and a flash that I saw briefly told me that Gina had taken another picture.

Finally, my exhaustion finally got to me, and Iggy apparently too, because we both dropped to the ground.

"Can we sleep over at your place Gina?"

She grinned at me and said, "Sure." Before she took off running, the rest of us following after her through the night.

_**--Later on, when regular people usually are awake…--**_

_**--Max POV—**_

"EVERYONE, WAKE UP!!!" I yelled, banging on everyone's room doors. Only 11 sleepy- eyed bird children stared back at me.

"Where's Iggy and Val?" I said, half going out of my mind. _**I knew something was wrong when Val didn't answer me in her head. She's usually up at the same time I am, and she didn't answer this morning.**_

Everyone looked around, and almost immediately, Demon and Nudge started to freak out. "Where'd they go?!" "Were they kidnapped?!!?" "Where could they be?!"

In less than 2 minutes, the two of them had run into their rooms, changed their clothes, and were back outside with their back packs on their backs, ready to go.

We all followed their lead and were standing regrouped outside the hotel within 10 minutes, only because we had to check out of the place and give back the keys before we left.

Nudge and Demon were still freaking out past the level at which the rest of us were. I could practically read their faces. Demon's face clearly stated, "I'm not losing her again, and I want my brother back" and… surprisingly, Nudge's was harder to read. It was more like a cross between, "Why did he have to be kidnapped instead of me?" and "I'm going to kill and/or castrate whoever stole those two".

We were in the middle of discussing where they could have gone when a duet of seemingly insane and familiar voices chimed from across the street, "HI GUYS!!!!!"

We all turned towards the sound and turned to see Valerie and Iggy waving at us spastically from across the street. They were smiling and bouncing in place, and looked overall like they were on some drugs, or extremely hyperactive. Valerie was wearing some camouflaged green pants, like when I had first met her, and a blue top with a cropped black leather motorcycle jacket that had the sleeves entirely ripped off. Iggy was wearing a green muscle shirt with black pants. They both had bags under their eyes, but they were so happy the bags looked out of place.

Once they saw that they had our attention, they waved spastically. Right afterwards, I got a message in my head. _Come and get us!!!_

And then they turned around and sped off down the street. **_What the fudge?!_**

**_

* * *

_**

I told you guys to start paying attention. This is where everything in the plot starts coming together.

Oh, and Gina is 20 years old.

Exie is 19 and a half years old.

Gem and Mini (note that the two of their names together spell gemini... well somewhat. I still can't spell right. BUT THAT WAS INTENTIONAL!) are both 19.

NOW REVIEW, MY LITTLE PIGEONS! BEFORE I SEND THE PICKLED CABBAGES AFTER YOU!!!

Peace, love, and Spanish talking spiders,

Skittles


	12. NO DRUGS! And kids!

_**HIYA, MY PEOPLES!!!! I'm currently sitting across from one of my grade's english teachers who thinks that I am doing homework as I write this chapter for you.**_

**_Now this chappy is where you should try to make sure you get all the names and connections right. Like I told you about two chapters ago, the plot starts to come together here._**

**_Oh, and to my dear friend Daisy, HAPPY... BELATED BIRTHDAY, GTRLIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (And no, it is not unhealthy to use that many exclamation points in one sentence. Trust me, I would know. A majority of the things I say come with exclamation points attached, and if they were deadly, I think I would be the first person to know._**

**This is Angel thinking.**

**_This is Max thinking._**

_This is the Voice._

_This is Valerie thinking._

**_Disclaimer: As much as I may wish, dream, and occasionally cry when I come back to reality, I do not own Maximum Ride. I only own Valerie, Demon, Skye, Jinx, Mira, Shawn, Hope and Blaze. That will have to do until I pester James Patterson enough to give me the rest of the series..._**

**_Val: Hey! What do you mean "We'll have to do"?!?!_**

**_Demon: Val, calm down. You'll light something on fire, again._**

**_Skittles: Yeah, Val, calm down. I love you all with all of my being, soul, and insanity (which there is a lot of), but alas, none of you are Fang..._**

**_Demon: Dude, that's my brother you're talking about. So wrong._**

**_Skittles: So right.....-sighs-_**

**_Hope: And now, before all of these guys get into an arguement that could last days, ON WITH THE STORY!!!!_**

**_Skittles31: That's my girl._**

* * *

**_--MAX POV--_**

I could not make heads or tails of my current situation, but all that I knew was that:

a) Valerie and Iggy were alright

b) They were now leading us on a chase through Chicago

c) All of us were wondering what the hell was going on

On the corner of an avenue, Valerie and Iggy stopped and both took something out of their pockets. It looked white and powdery, almost like…. _**OH MY GOD THEY'RE TAKING DRUGS!!!!!**_

I resisted the urge to scream or turn around to Fang and saying "I told you he was on drugs" and ran maybe even faster than before. Valerie and Iggy both started running again, and I saw Iggy almost imperceptibly nod before taking off in the direction opposite the way Val was going. **_What the hell is she thinking?!?! He's blind, and new to the city!!! You can't just let him run off on his own!!_**

When I got my hands on her, I was going to strangle her... well, maybe after Nudge finally finished glaring laser holes into her head. She was even more pissed than I was.

Fang took the guys in Iggy's direction, and me and the rest of the girls ran after Val. She ducked and weaved and twirled around anybody who came towards her, and I was once again reminded of the conversation we had had a while back about Val being like a panther in her grace. Plus she was pretty, agile, strong, stubborn, and passionate about her family, along with everything else she put herself into. You messed with her, you were going to get hurt. End of story.

_Remind you of anyone you know?_

**_Umm... Nudge?_** I joked, smiling a little, then remembered that I was chasing my little sister (who lost my blind brother that the rest of the boys in my family were trying to find) through a crowded city not having had breakfast. My face automatically settled into a scowl. **_She is going to get it._**

Ahead of us, even though we were slowly gaining on her, Val stopped and poured some more of the drugs into her mouth. My blood boiled. **_Nudge won't have anything to work with once I'm through with tearing her butt to shreds._**

Valerie started running again, and now the gap between us was about 10 feet wide. She quickly ducked into an alleyway, and after looking over her shoulder to see if we were still there, she scrambled up a fire escape and poked her head back over the side, giggling --**_Since when does Ivy giggle!?--_**as she watched us make our way up to the top.

As soon as my hand got some leverage on the roof of the building, Val was booking it across the roof, then leapt over another alleyway onto the roof of another person's home. She looked like she had taken the move right out of the "Bourne Ultimatum" movie. I rolled my eyes and followed her.

After landing on the roof, she yelled, "Iggy!! Get out here!!" Almost immediately, some wild Indian cry was given from behind her. About a minute later, Iggy jumped down from the building that was behind her. He was still smiling, as was she. Then, both of them took a small tube from their pants pocket and poured some of the contents into their mouths.

I lunged at them. "STOP THAT, DAMN IT!!!! NO DRUGS!!!"

Val and Iggy both looked at each other, and then started laughing hysterically. Everyone took one step back from them.

Finally, Iggy managed to choke out, "You thought we were taking drugs?" As soon as he finished the statement, Val started chuckling again.

She wordlessly raised hand up so that I could see the label on the container. And that was when I mentally smacked myself. **_Pixie Stix._**

Angel giggled behind me.

Valerie spoke up. "Besides Max, we're bad enough as it is. We don't need the drugs."

Iggy looked confused. "So we didn't need to buy the--"

"Nope."

"Or the--"

"Nope."

"Or--"

"Not that either."

"Oh. So then why?"

Valerie sighed exasperatedly, then looked at Iggy. "Because life is a lot better when you're high."

We all just stared. _Question mark?_

Valerie brushed off her capris and sighed. "Well, I think it's time for the day to really begin. GINA!!!"

Demon gasped, and a beautiful woman came from out of the door that led down to the rest of the house we were standing on. And she was holding a cake.

She opened her mouth and started singing. **_Holy crap on toast, she's like a choir of angels. But one of the angels ate the rest of them and now the rest of the angels are singing from the cannibal angel's stomach._**

Over said angel's singing Happy Birthday, Ivy looked at me like I had two heads.

When the angel (who I figured out was Gina) finished singing, she gave Iggy the cake and nearly squeezed the life out of Demon. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, O DARK ONE!!!"

Demon, who had finally finished looking like a goldfish, returned the hug ecstatically. And then began stuttering like an idiot. "But-- how?--when?--why--"

Ivy stepped in. "Since I am the more atriculate one at the moment, I think he means to say "Who? What? When? Why? How?"."

Demon nodded, mouth wide open. The rest of us chuckled.

Gina answered. "We moved back here after you guys left. It didn't seem right without you guys there. It's your birthday apparently, so we're celebrating. And Caramel over there arranged this entire thing."

Demon slowly extracted himself from Gina's arms, and ran over to Ivy. He lifted her into his arms, ignoring her squealing, and spun her around. Almost exactly like when they had first met up again after three years.

He finally set her down and smiled in close comparison to the sun. "Thank you. So that's why you had been so anxious to get here before today."

Val smiled... and was that sheepishness I saw on her face? "Yeah, well... you're welcome."

* * *

**_--Angel POV--_**

**_(A.N. 'Cause no one seems to ever do her point of the stories. And this is for , who left me a totally awesome review!!! And yay exclamation points!!!!!)_**

I looked at Val and Demon, who were staring at each other rather intensely for being "just friends". **Hmmm...**

Val had a certain gleam in her eyes, and Demon was still smiling at her and holding her around the waist**. Who do they remind me of?**

And then it hit me**. Holy cupcakes! They're just like the younger version of Max and Fang! Which means they're....**

I looked at Val, who didn't seem to have noticed my realization. She was still too caught up in Demon. I was going to keep a close eye on those two.

**Great. Just what the world needs. Another couple who are best friends who fall in love with each other and are just as stubborn, if not more stubborn, than the previously mentioned couple! This is too much for a 10-year-old romantic matchmaker to take! Really, they're going to take even more silent pushing from the sidelines than the older pair!**

**Ugh.** I thought, looking at Demon and Val. She was now just leaning against him for some reason that I didn't know. But maybe their hearts did...

**.....**

**.....**

**.....**

Okay, so I did know that she and Iggy were the walking dead because they had no sleep at all last night, and she was trying to keep from collapsing. But cut a girl some slack! I wanted it to seem a bit romantic!

**But this was going to be fun. It was just going to take some time.**

**

* * *

**

_**--Max Pov--**_

"Umm, so Val? Why did you need Iggy for this totally awesome surprise?"I asked her, trying to remind her that the rest of us were still here and alive.

Val, still leaning on Demon, replied. "Well, I needed Iggy to help me make Demon's favorite cake--"

Demon interrupted. "YOU MADE RED VELVET CAKE!! YOU MADE THE CAKE THAT YOU HAVE BEEN MAKING FOR ME EVER SINCE YOU COULD MAKE FOOD!!!!"

Val glared at him, and he shut up. "Yes, I made red velvet. And I figured that the best present would be to see everyone again. Oh, and plus, everyone hold up a random amount of fingers." We did as we were told. Iggy stepped forward from against the wall.

"Max, you're holding up 3 fingers on your right hand. Fang, 1 finger left hand. Nudge, 7 fingers. Gazzy, 10. Angel, 4 on your left hand--" Nudge lunged at Iggy, screaming "YOU CAN SEE!!!"

"Holy shiznitos." I whispered, and then ran at him myself to join the giant dogpile.

About 5 minutes later, when we all were done crying, Nudge asked, "How?"

Iggy smiled. "Val has a friend, Exie, who can heal people. She's a butterfly hybrid. Val dragged me out of bed at about one in the morning to go to her. She had apparently told Exie about me and asked her if she could heal me. And she did. So I can see. Hey, Gina, introduce yourself!"

The beautiful angel person stepped forward. "My name's Gina. I'm a cat-human hybrid of about 20 years. I looked after these two little demonic beings since they came to me after they busted out of the Institute. Val kept in touch with me after she apparently busted back out of the Institute and got a laptop. Everyone thought for the longest time that Demon was dead."

I had to ask. "Exactly how many is "everyone"?"

Gina smiled at me. "There are about...29 of us altogether." I nearly keeled over.

"WHAT?! Y'all expanded since we were last here!" Val said.

"No, the original 10 of us are still here." Val groaned.

"You mean that evil fudgebutt is still here? " She asked, practically whining. Gina, who was smiling quite possibly even wider, nodded.

Demon chose this time to intervene. "And there will be no fighting between the two of you." Val rolled her eyes and muttered, "Not if she starts it." Demon heaved a huge sigh.

Gina smiled at the two of them **_--Does she ever stop smiling?--_** "Just like 3 years ago. But come on everyone. We'll let Demon have the cake later." Demon rather visible deflated.

We went down the entrance where Gina had come from, Val right behind Gina, when all of a sudden, this giant blur came from down the stairs and tackled Demon, making Gina and Val squish themselves against the wall to avoid being bowled over. "YOU'RE BACK!!!" it screeched.

Demon, looking a bit frazzled and still on the ground, said, "Exie? Gem? Mini?"

The blur, which had both separated and slowed down so that we could clearly see 3 beautiful people on top of Demon, smiled and nodded spastically. Val took a picture.

After getting their greetings and introductions out of the way, we continued on our journey down the stairs. And then, I both heard and saw this adorable small person run right into Val's arms, screaming, "MOMMY!!!" And then, immediately, Val and said person started crying like little babies.

**_WHAT THE FLIPNOD?!?!_**

* * *

_**Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm evil for leaving you on a cliffie like that. But review if you want to see what happens next. You know you want to. And if you don't want to, then I'm sure that Val could convince you otherwise.**_

_**Val: --grins evil and cackles, hands beginning to smoke--**_

_**Demon: Oh, crap, this could possibly not end well. At all.**_

**_Skittles31: Oh, stop ruining my fun, Demon! Here, have some pixie stix. --offers some to Demon--_**

**_Val: Yeah, maybe that'll get the stick out of your butt._**

**_Demon: --glares at Val--_**

**_Peace, love, and flaming drumsets,_**

**_Skittles31_**


	13. Queen of Redhaired Wonders! EEWWW!

_**HEYA GUYS!!! Sorry I got this to you so late, I had it ready yesterday, but my mom ran me off of the computer. And, I HAVE FREAKING "GUYS AND DOLLS" PERFORMANCES ALL THIS WEEK!!! **_

**_Gah...so...much..work...must...be....laaaaaaaaaaazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzyyyyyyyyyyy........._**

**_Sorry, me and my need to be doing nothing! Always pops up...all the time..._**

**_BUT HERE IS THE TOTALLY AWESOME CHAPTER THAT YOU WILL LOVE AND REVIEW!!!_**

**_Max's thoughts_**

_Val's thoughts_

_Voice's thoughts_

_**This chapter is dedicated to Marianna, who is one of my most beloved friends, and also one of my characters in this story. --somewhere in Manhattan, Marianna squeals and falls off her chair onto her fat cat Jimmy, who screeches and runs (well, jiggles more like...) away--**_

**_ON WITH THE STORY!!_**

**_

* * *

_**_**--Max POV—**_

_**I swear I must be having some sort of freakish dream. Because that little girl did not just call Val "Mommy"!**_ I thought, my eyes still bugging out of my head.

Val was too caught up in said little girl to answer my mental sort-of-question herself. I turned to Demon, who was (rather unfortunately for me and my curiosity) also staring at the little girl in wonder. _**Well, thank you for your help, Demon.**_

I looked at Fang, who was silently leaning against the wall, eyes trained on Val and the little girl's reunion. He was slowly blinking his eyes, his version of complete and total shock. As in "Nudge-never-speaks-again" shock. His eyes turned to meet mine, after probably sensing my staring at him. He tilted his head slightly towards Val who –_**Finally!**_—was getting up from her half crouching position and turning towards us, a freakinhugeginormocolosal grin threatening to split her face in half. She was holding the little child in her arms, not exactly cradling it, but supporting it…

_**Don't look at me like that! I have very little experience with babies! And Valerie shines once again.**_

"Sweetie—" Shawn choked on some saliva. "This is your new extended family. Tell them what your name is."

The little adorable person, who had skin like Val's and eyes like De—

_**Oh. My. Freaking. Crayola.**_

I looked quickly between Demon and Val, back and forth, forth and back, swinging my head from side to side so fast I nearly got whiplash. And then my stomach got very queasy. _**Please tell me they did not do the deed at age 13.**_ I mentally barfed, and a little on the outside too.

"MAX!" Angel and Val yelled, and both of their faces turned a little green. _**I wasn't even aware that Val's skin COULD turn green.**_ Val continued, still looking a bit queasy. "Now before your Aunt Max has a heart attack, tell them what your name is, Luz."

"Luz" smiled. "Kamilah." She said adorably, before burying her face in the crook of Val's neck. Val softly rubbed circles on Kamilah's back, and simultaneously said to us, "She's not mine. So stop hyperventilating, all of you. D and I found her abandoned in an alleyway, and I basically fell in love with her right then and there. Took her home, and she officially became a Refugee. She's 5 years old now." I nodded, finally able to breath again.

Nudge, Skye, and Hope all went over to where Val was standing with Kamilah. "She's adorable." Skye cooed, and Blaze looked at her with a look that said basically, "If she's happy, then I'm happy."

_**Oh, dear Jesus, has he fallen in love with Skye? What the hell is it with best friends falling in love these days?!?!**_

Val shot me an odd glance, like she was waiting for me to realize something. Angel just started to smirk.

_**Smirk. Oh my gosh, my poor Angel has been corrupted! She NEVER smirks!! I bet that Gazzy put something in one of her drinks. And then we'll all be in trouble, because she will have tried—and succeeded—in taking over the world using slight mind control and the Bambi eyes. Damn you, Gazzy, damn you!**_

_Max?_ I heard Val's voice in my head. _Your thought process when you first wake up in the mornings is really screwed up._

Kamilah patted Val on the shoulder and Val put the small girl back on the ground. Kamilah was about to walk back to the rest of the giant group that was watching our arrival, but she spotted Demon and stopped. Instinctively, and also rather smartly, all of us took a giant step away from Demon.

After 5 seconds of what seemed to be quiet deliberation, Kamilah flung herself at Demon, who immediately started to smile the "it's-borderline-disturbing-that-someone-can-smile-that-hard" smile. He lifted her up in the air and spun her around.

After blocking my mind, I looked at the scene again. Val's eyes were shining as she looked at Kamilah again.

_**She'd make a good mother. **_I looked at Demon, who was now being led by Kamilah towards the kitchen.

_And I don't think that Demon would mind being the father either._ The Voice inputted. I froze.

_**What in the name of the Flock are you talking about?!**_

_Use your eyes Max. _And then as quickly as the Voice had come, he went too.

_**I hate he/she/it when it does that. STRAIGHT FORWARD ANSWERS, DAMN YOU!!! I don't do well with emotional stuff, and this is pretty much all emotion right here. And I am using my eyes! I just don't see what the heck he's talking about! (A.N. Aww, Max. Our lovable clueless-in-the-emotions leader.)**_

Anyways, coming back to the present, and dropping a thought process that had gotten and was going absolutely nowhere, I looked to see everyone else in the room staring and smiling at Valerie.

The _gigantic_ guy with black hair who was all the way in the back came running forward, booming, "ASH IS BACK!" And that was when all hell officially broke loose.

He swung her up in the air, ignoring her constant screams of, "A.J.! PUT ME DOWN!!", and then hugged her so tightly I think her skin turned slightly blue. "A.J.!....Can't….Breathe!" Immediately he dropped her, and somehow Val's brain got enough oxygen in time for her to land lightly on her feet and not end up crashing to the floor. She smiled up at him, obviously forgiving him for nearly cracking her open like an egg for an omelet. "Missed you too, AJ."

And then another tall guy with blonde hair pulled her into the air from behind and nearly squished her to death. "Well hello, little sister! I've missed you, due to the fact that things have been terrifyingly dull since The Terrible Twosome left." I, for one, thought this was a bit formal for having just been reunited with one of old siblings. But apparently there was some sort of hidden meaning to his words, because Val's face fell. "I'm sorry, Collin," she whispered. She stared at him for a while longer, looking like a child that's been scolded, and then eventually he said, "It's okay." And then she wrapped her arms around him, and there was one huge hug.

"HEY STOP HOGGING HER!" And then these other two guys, one shorter than the other, came charging at her, and tackled her away from Collin. "Heya, Squirt!" One with spiky brown hair with green tips said. "Jell-o Nate!" Val said, squirming as he tickled her. Unfortunately for her it was a tag team, and the other guy with streaks of red in his blonde hair behind her started to tickle her too. "GAH! S-STOP IT DR-DREX! NO T-TAG TE-AAAAAHHAHAHAHAHAHHA!" She couldn't finish her sentence for a very long time.

And then finally—5 minutes later—they stopped laughing right as some other girl stepped into the room. She had flaming red hair --she lost five points in my book just from that. _**Because we all know how much I love people with red hair, due to my past experiences with them.**_—and the same golden colored eyes that Gina, Exie, Mini, Gem, Nate, Drex, A.J., and Collin did. She was really pretty, in fact very pretty, but you could take one look at how she was glaring at Val and see that she was vain. **_Well this couldn't possibly end well._**

Red turned to Gina and said, "What the _**–censor—**_is she doing here?"

And then that was the time that Demon came back from wherever he had been with Kamilah. He saw what we all were staring at and his eyes widened. "Oh shiznits," he muttered, still frozen on the spot.

Not turning away from Red, Val called out, "My word." Red continued to glare.

In the dead silence of the room, she said, "Leave."

Val, keeping her temper in check, said quite calmly, "No."

It didn't seem that Red was used to being denied things. She looked shocked that Val even used that word in a sentence regarding her. Val kept plowing on calmly. Quite frankly, that scared me more, because when Val gets pissed at you, she just basically blows up in your face. _**She does not use the "calm, cool, and collected" approach ever in her lifetime**__._ I was somewhat fearing for Red's life right about now.

"When I was 10 and came here, you hated me. You did everything you could to make sure that I got that idea in my head. Bossed me around, took out any anger on me in sparring, verbal abuse. The works. And I took it as it came, not saying a thing."

Val moved forward, getting into Red's face. She was breathing slightly harder, but her voice was still calm. "Now I was younger then, and smaller than you were. And I didn't really know how to respond to you. Now I'm 16 years old, and I, quite frankly, still hate you with the burning passion of a thousand nuns. _**(A.N. Yes, I did mean to say "nuns". It is a very long story, don't ask.)**_ So I think you should learn to keep the hell away from me, because I am way more dangerous than before. And my temper's gotten much worse." Val was now standing right in front of Red, whose name we still had yet to learn. "So. Back. Off." Val stepped back, and turned away.

Red stayed frozen for a few moments, then smiled very deviously. _**"—censor—"**_

Val stopped walking away, and the room steadily grew hotter. Then Demon stepped over beside Val, and held her shoulders, as if trying to keep her from running away.

"No." he muttered lowly, staring her dead in the eyes. Val's now milk chocolate colored eyes looked back at him. She was itching to knock this girl out, and we all knew it.

He held her a little tighter. "_No_." he said, once again, more emphasis on the word. Slowly, the room's temperature fell, and Val's labored breathing calmed itself. Her eyes returned to their hazel color, and the rest of mine and Valerie's flocks both started breathing again.

Demon, after making sure that Val had fully calmed down, turned to Red, "Niara, leave it alone. Don't provoke her." He scolded.

Niara made a face. "But why?" _**Was she whining?**_ "I hate her. She's never done anything right, and she never will do anything right. She's ugly, and useless, and worthless. Why do you even hang out with her?"

Me, Fang, Iggy, Demon, Angel, Gazzy, Nudge, Mira, Shawn, Skye, Hope, Blaze, Jinx, and Demon were all ready to freakin' pounce on this complete butthole. We were all glaring at her, and so were the other guys who had just reunited with Valerie. Gina growled at her, "That wasn't right, Niara."

"And what do I care?! I don't give a **_–censor—_**about the little _**–censor--**_. Why should I care about what I say in front of her? It's not like she could hurt me—"

Niara—a.k.a Queen Bi-atch of the Redhead Wonders (QBRHW for short)-- _**(A.N. No offense to any people out there with red hair. I am just trying to embody Max's hatred of the red haired wonders that she has previously encountered. Back to the story!)**_stopped short, looking in Valerie's direction. Slowly, because some of us were quite terrified to see what we would find when we looked, we turned to Valerie. _**Oh crap.**_

Val's eyes were pitch black, her wings fluffed out slightly behind her, and her hands in fists at her sides. She was literally _vibrating_. The rest of us besides QBRHW moved back towards the wall and pressed ourselves against it. Fang even tried to move himself slightly in front of me. I immediately brought him to stand fully level with me against the wall. **_Because now was not the time to be chivalrous. Ooh, big word!_**

Around where Angel was, a giggle was emitted, which sounded very odd in the silence.

QBRHW stood her ground. "Whatcha gonna do about it, worthless?"

Val didn't say anything as she walked forward, and then slowly she started to growl. It got louder in volume with every step she took. "I'm not worthless." She said, glaring defiantly into Niara's eyes.

I was suddenly praying for the sake of Val's clean murder record that Niara didn't say anything else, or there would most likely be blood. Blood and ashes.

Obviously, fate wanted something horrible to happen to Niara today because she said, "Lying to yourself will get you nowh—"

Val flung herself at Niara, and everyone, Niara included, was too stunned to move. **_How the hell is she managing not to blow something up?_**

So when Val appeared in front of her, looking ever so much like a fallen angel, her wings spread out completely behind her, her eyes devoid of any color, and one of her shaking fists devastatingly close to Niara's face, I think that was when Niara's brain finally got the message to her mouth. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!"

_**(A.N. WARNING!! HUGE CURSING ALERT IN THE NEXT FEW LINES!!)**_

Abruptly she cut off when Valerie grabbed her shirt and pushed her to the wall. She'd moved so fast that she was a blur to even me. "You fricken' asshole! You just don't fucking get it. I don't want to fucking kill you, and you're making that piece of shit harder every damn day. I don't want to deal with your crap, so get your fucking mouth out of my crap, or I swear to God I will burn your ass and dance around the damn ashes, bitch. I don't want to be charged with fricken' murder, but you keep fucking taunting me, and I will have your shit fucking head on a wall for everyone to damn well see. So. Fuck. Off. Bitch." Valerie growled every word menacingly into Niara's face, and slowly she turned around, eyes still black, and walked out the door.

Demon turned back to Niara, and growled. "Now look what you've done. She'll take hours to finally cool off." As he followed her footsteps, he passed me and muttered to himself, "We'll be lucky if she doesn't blow anything up."

Everyone slowly filtered out of the room, full-on glaring at Niara. Fang pushed me in front of him, knowing that I would probably yell something not exactly polite –_**Though when have I ever been worried about being polite?—**_but was unable to stop me as I went back into the room and snarled with my ever-so-endearing bull dog tenacity, "You say anything to her again, and I will murder you very happily with a smile on my face."

As I turned back to go into the kitchen and passed Fang, he chuckled, his footsteps echoed mine. I ran in the direction that Demon had gone in after Val, and found him pounding on one of the doors. "VAL! OPEN UP!! IT'S ME!!"

I put a hand on his shoulder, and he swung his arm around in what was supposed to be a punch, but looked more like his arm was flailing wildly. I caught it easily.

"Let me talk to her," I said, trying to soothe my brother who looked so frenzied it wasn't even funny. He looked at me with a pleading expression, and stepped away from the door. I knocked once, and called through the door, "Valerie? It's Max. Can I come in?"

There was a slight shuffling, and then the door opened. "Yeah, sure." Val's voice was quiet and hollow as she opened the door and I walked into the bedroom where she had taken refuge.

* * *

**_And there you go. I put in some drama for you guys. Next chapter will be a little more in depth Valerie. Her past. And there will be bonding. Oh, and more catfights between QBRHW and Valerie. By the way, can you find the "Max" quote that I slipped in there somewhere?_**

**_Read and REVIEW!!_**

**_But first, let's review the new characters, shall we?_**

_**A.J.**_

Gender: Male. Height: 6 feet, 9 inches. Eye color: Golden. Hair color: Black. Type of hybrid: Wolf (DON'T WORRY, HE'S NOT AN ERASER!) Age: 21. Siblings: Gina

Miscellaneous: Escaped Institute at 13 years of age with his sister and Exie. One of the first batch of successful Erasers, but "went bad", according to the whitecoats. The "optimist" in the group.

**_Nate_**

Gender: Male. Height: 6 feet, 5 inches. Eye color: Golden. Hair color: brown with green tips. Type of Hybrid: Fox. Age: 19.

Miscellaneous: Escaped Institute by himself at 14. Ability to pick up an object and know how to use it instantaneously. Partners in crime with Drex, who is the closest thing he's ever had to a brother. Dating Gem.

**_Drex_**

Gender: Male. Height: 6 feet, 3 inches. Eye color: Golden. Hair color: Blonde with red streaks. Type of hybrid: Fox. Age: 19.

Miscellaneous: Escaped the School (in California) with Collin at 14. Was found nearly dead on the side of the road by Gina and been taken care of ever since. Partners in crime with Nate. Nearly genius IQ. Telekinetic.

**_Collin_**

Gender: Male. Height: 6 feet, 6 inches. Eye color: Golden. Hair color: Blonde. Type of hybrid: Lion. Age: 21.

Miscellaneous: Escaped the School with Drex at 16. Found in similar state to Drex by Gina, and started dating her 3 months later. Father figure, somewhat, of the Refugees.

**_Ray_**

Gender: Male. Height, 6 feet, 5 inches. Eye color: Golden. Hair color: Black. Type of Hybrid: Bat. Age: 20

Miscellaneous: Past, unknown. Silent one of the Refugees. Only opened up to Demon. Can freeze someone's motion completely. Almost never talks.

**_Mini_**

Gender: Female. Height: 5 feet, 8 inches. Eye color: Golden. Hair color: Brown with red streaks. Type of Hybrid: Mouse. Age: 19. Twin: Gem

Miscellaneous: Rescued from the Institute at 12 with her sister. Can drain energy from anyone she touches. More excitable of the twins.

**_Exie_**

Gender: Female. Height: 5 feet, 9 inches. Eye color: Golden. Hair color: Black. Type of Hybrid: Monarch Butterfly. Age: 19 and a half

Miscellaneous: Escaped from Institute at 11 with A.J. and Gina. Healing abilities. Enjoys dancing, and uses this as a form of "walking" instead.

**_Gem_**

Gender: Female. Height: 5 feet, 8 inches. Eye color: Golden. Hair color: Brown with blue streaks. Type of Hybrid: Mouse. Age: 19.

Miscellaneous: Escaped at 12 with sister. Older of the twins. Dating Nate.

**_Gina_**

Gender: Female. Height: 5 feet 9 inches. Eye color: Golden. Hair color: Black. Type of Hybrid: Lioness. Age: 20

Miscellaneous: Escaped Institute at 12 with A.J. and Exie. Exie's best friend. Dating Collin. Mother figure of Refugees.

**_Niara_**

Gender: Female. Height: 5 feet, 9 inches. Eye color: Golden. Hair color: Red. Type of Hybrid: Lioness. Age: 19

Miscellaneous: Escaped School at 16 alone. Detaches herself from the rest fo the Refugees, and hates Valerie **_(A.N. If you didn't pick up on that, you're blind)_**. Competitive, and usually spars with Valerie to release anger, seeing as she's angry at her all the time.

* * *

**_And there you have it. The family of experiments, called the Refugees, that were family then, and still are._**

**_READ AND REVIEW!!!_**

**_Peace, love, and unlimited octopi pie which I shall keep in storage to throw at people,_**

**_Skittles31_**


	14. Pain again, Drowned again, Led on, still

**_HELLO MY WONDERFUL ADORING FANS!_**

**_I am sooooooooooooo sorry that I haven't been able to update sooner. I have had soooo much that I've had to do. I had the school musical "Guys and Dolls", which was a whole lot of dancing and singing (and yet, very little sleeping on my part), and then we went to Washington DC on Wednesday. So I literally just looked at my laptop for the first time in 3 days. Yes, I am aware that that stinks._**

**_And thank you to "RandomCUZISIDSOluver", who pointed out to me that Exie was like Alice. I hadn't made that connection before, I just wrote about Exie. Hmm, Interesting... Wonder where I could take that later..._**

**_Anyway, this chapter takes a more in depth look at Valerie, and how she came to be who she is now. Hope you enjoy!!!_**

**_Disclaimer: A girl can dream, right? But for now, I only own Valerie, Demon, Mira, Shawn, Hope, Jinx, Blaze, Skye, Exie, Gina, A.J., Collin, Drex, Nate, Niara, Gem, Mini, and Ray. I'll get the others eventually, so James Patterson, watch out..._**

**_And now, now that that little breaking off and ripping apart of my soul is done and over with, ON WITH THE STORY!!!_**

* * *

I stepped through the threshold and closed the door gently on Demon's face. _**I'll feel badly about that later.**_ But now wasn't the time to have been worrying about how Demon felt. Val, quite frankly, looked like crap.

Her hair was all over her face; her eyes looked extremely blank, and were still dark. She looked tired, and she was just staring blankly at the wall.

After I went over and sat next to Val on the ground, we sat in silence for a long time. Eventually, she spoke. "I guess I do sort of take up space, don't I?"

I snapped my head to hers, which was still staring blankly at the wall across from us. "Don't you dare," I growled, ready to attack her if she thought of herself as any less important than we thought she was.

Val didn't respond. "We need you, Ivy. Don't you dare let her get to you. You help me keep the others in line, you're my favorite sister, you're mother hen to everyone, and Demon would die if you tried to run away." She flinched at the mention of his name.

She opened her mouth again, her voice still soft. "Ever since I got here, it has been the personal goal of Niara to make my life a living hell. I never did anything to her, but she wants me to suffer for every day of the rest of my life. So she tries to take my best friend, and drag him over to the dark side. She knows he's my most valuable lifeline, no offense to you guys, and plans on snatching him out from under me and watching me fall. Demon's the only one that really gets me besides you, Max. And he was my first friend ever. But sometimes I think the best thing would be to just let her win. Maybe he'd be happier without a mentally and emotionally unstable freak dragging him down."

I was ready to slap her since she sounded so defeated and just… un-Val-like…

Also, due to the fact that the only way that I can deal with any emotion is that I smack the other person. Seriously, here's how the situation would probably go if anyone came to me as an emotional therapist:

* * *

"Max! I'm in love!"—5 second pause then a smack—"Feeling better?"

* * *

Focusing back on the task at hand, I turned back to Valerie. She started stretching, and it was then that I realized that she had taken her jacket off. I froze.

"Val, please tell me those aren't what I think they are," I said, my voice sounding hoarse to me as I stared at the many little scars that seemed to decorate both of Ivy's forearms.

Her eyes trailed my line of vision, and stopped exactly where I had been staring. Immediately, she jumped up from against the wall and tried to get out of the room, out of my sight. I jumped up as well and grabbed her arm, holding her firmly in place. Val started trying to twist and turn to get out of my grasp, but I held tight until eventually she stopped fighting and just stood rigid, going limp.

_**Once again, awkward turtle**_.

I hesitantly pulled her closer to me and wrapped my arms around her awkwardly. I guided her over to the wall again, and we slid down it to lean against the wall once again. Then I realized that there were a few tears running down her cheeks. **_Awww, crap._**

Val's sniffling slowly quieted, until she was just breathing slightly heavily. I decided to jump straight to the point. "Valerie Ivy Shadow, when did those scars happen? And don't you dare lie to me."

Val was silent, and I tried the calmer approach. "Val, what happened?"

I got the nearly silent answer sooner this time. "Right after Demon's death, when I had shut down and been thrown into the mix with the rest of my flock, your extended family, I went completely numb. I functioned just enough so that people knew that I was alive, but I didn't really do anything. I didn't know if I could feel anything, if my brain was processing anything anymore, so I tried to test myself. A few cuts, just a few each day to make sure my body didn't slowly die." A deep breath. "After we escaped from the Institute for the last time, I started to wear clothes with longer sleeves, and fingerless gloves to cover the evidence. By this point, I was almost suicidal. I sort of missed the Institute, because back there you were worked so hard that when you collapsed and fell asleep, your brain was too tired to try and think of anything for you to dream about. I didn't have that… luxury when we escaped, so the memories came back in the form of dreams." Another deep breath.

"Every time I started to fall asleep, I would keep one hand on the knife in my pocket, and then as soon as the nightmare woke me up, I would turn away from the others and make a fresh wound. They weren't suspicious, and somehow the pain made me feel better; it distracted me from the other pain.

"I remember the day that the others found out very clearly. We had been free for almost 2 years. It was another nightmare, and this time the memories were so vivid that within a few minutes of falling asleep I jumped back up and started running. Now, granted, I wasn't as fast a runner as I am now, and I was really unaware of my surroundings, since my mind and heart were both racing. Also, Skye was on watch, and Blaze was not going to go sleep without knowing that she had first. So almost as soon as I jumped up, they jumped up and started following me. I bent down about 15 yards away, leaning against a boulder, and then took out the pocket knife and pressed it to my skin." Another deep breath.

"As soon as the blood started to run, Skye was in front of me wiping frantically at the wound. Her eyes were wide and terrified, but she said nothing. Blaze, on the other hand, was a different story. He started screaming and yelling, but under all the anger I could see the honest concern and sadness that I would do that to myself. The last thing he said before we all went back to camp was, 'You die when we die.'

"After that, I wasn't allowed to do anything unsupervised. I'm guessing that the news that I was a cutter had spilled so that now everyone knew about it, because no one looked at me the same way again. I felt like I was in a showcase, and everyone was staring in at me. No one left me alone to myself, and I felt like screaming. Although I guess it meant they cared. But I'm still unstable, so not much has changed."

I couldn't help myself as I whispered, more to myself, "So that's what the others meant when they said that you did some other things they didn't approve of,"

Val nodded her confirmation. Then she sighed. "I know this is going to change everything," she trailed off.

I pulled Val closer to me, and genuinely hugged her. "We all have our flaws. Let them see what they want to see." I whispered into her hair.

_**Oh, crap. I'm going soft and soggy. I feel like a Frosted Flake that's been drenched in milk.**_

_No, Maximum. You're growing up._

…_**We'll interpret it as we like.**_

Eventually, Val's adrenaline rush came crashing down, and she just fell asleep on my shoulder, lightly breathing. I gently lifted her and put her on the bed. And then I started to think.

_**How do you recover from that? All that pain and no relief. You think your best friend is dead for years and you have to pretend like everything's fine so that you can lead and not have anyone questioning your authority due to the fact that you show emotion. She was bound to have gone a bit crazy sometime or another. She had no one to turn to—not like she'd turn to anyone. Val's strong-willed, stubborn, and independent. Sometimes I can't help but think that that could be her downfall.**_

_Max, Valerie's like you in a lot of ways. You're both strong-willed, stubborn, independent, authoritative. And yes, you both do have your flaws. Remember the Beach Incident?_

I flinched. _**I try not to.**_ The memory of the blood flowing over the wound into the sand; the smell of blood and seawater mixed together; Fang's look of both terror and anger; my breaking down and crying.

_I'm aware of that Max. I'm just trying to say that even leaders are human too. _And then the presence in my head faded away.

About 15 minutes later, I heard the door beginning to click, and then it fully swung open. Everyone who knew Val, besides Niara, rushed inside.

"Is she okay?"

"Do we have to kill Niara?"

"Did anything get damaged by Val's temper?"

"Would anyone like to tell me what's going on?"

Questions were flying everywhere, and I tried to answer everyone as best I could. "She's okay. No, we are not getting charged with murder, Gazzy! No, nothing's damaged. Niara, get the hell out of here."

Everyone immediately stopped talking and turned to glare at the pretty figure standing in the door frame. "Get out of here, Niara. You're the reason this happened in the first place." Gina snarled. _**In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion ain't sleeping tonight…**_

Angel, trying to keep a glare on her face, failed miserably.

Niara had the nerve to look confused. "I just restated what she already knew. What's wrong with that?"

A soft rustling noise came from behind me, and I turned around to see Val sitting up and glaring at Niara. "Only you, huh?" She asked, voice drowsy.

"What do you mean "only me"? I'm a lot more than you'll ever be," Niara screeched, looking pretty eager for a rise out of Val.

Val, even after all of our conversation before, got up from the bed, and then--

_**Holy shiznits.**_

--She flipped with no momentum straight into Niara's chest, pushed back off her with her feet, and flipped back onto the bed.

The only evidence that the flip had even been done was the fact that Val was smirking, Niara was 2 feet back out into the hallway…

…And there were two dark footprints that were slightly smoking imprinted on Niara's shirt. _**And now everyone looks at Valerie…**_

"Since when could you do that?!" Demon asked first.

Val shot him a confused look. He rotated his arms once around each other, as if in some sort of Latin American dance, and then kept openly staring at her. She shrugged. He looked at her like she was crazy, then repeated the shrug gesture. Val nodded enthusiastically. Demon shook his head, but shot her a look I couldn't read, and then Val gulped.

"You two still do that?" Gina asked. Everyone's head turned to hers.

"Do what?" Val and Demon asked in perfect unison.

"Nothing. Apparently the answer is yes." She said, shaking her head and smiling. "Now, onto other matters. Val, why the hell is Niara's shirt smoldering?"

Valerie took no pity on the poor people who weren't used to this yet and opened her wings, and set them on fire. Smirking devilishly the entire time.

"HOLY FRICK!!!" Gina, Exie, Gem, Mini, A.J., Drex, Nate, and Collin all screeched at the same time. I chuckled a bit.

Val sing-songed, "Told you not to screw with me! And now I want sleep. SO GO!" Everyone shuffled out of there except Iggy, who had just fallen asleep on the floor when we weren't looking.

Niara was still standing with an idiotic look on her face outside the door. I smirked, skipped **_--yes, skipped. Deal with it--_**over to her and said, "Try to hurt her now, you're dead! Better keep that mouth of yours under control. Because Val has been known to let her temper get the best of her!"

And with that, I felt the need to reward myself, and walked down the hallway to the kitchen to get myself a cookie.

* * *

**_And how was this chappy?! I know, I didn't even plan out to have any of that happen, but it just took off like that. It's a bit darker than what I usually write, but hey, we all gotta be flexible. Except for my friend Daisy, who every time she attempts to bend over backwards, ends up lying on the floor screeching about her back. Hmm..._**

**_But I hope that I got Max's character right in this. I've been trying not to make her seem to unlike herself in the books, so review and tell me how I'm doing with that goal._**

**_Now, can you find the other Maximum Ride quote in this chapter? In the last one, it was from Max, when Brigid was trying to convince Max to stay in the submarine and not go after Angel and risk her own life. Right before the gigantic Fax epiphany._** "...endearing bull dog tenacity"--Max, Max.

**_I slipped another quote from the series in here too. Review and tell me if you found it or not! It's pretty obvious._**

**_Oh, and for old times sake,_**

**_Sincerely,_**

Daisy, after seeing that I stole her stuffed fox which she re-specied a wolf which she named Jacob: Zee, please! I need to fill him with my tears. I always cry at the end of Clueless!

Me, not paying attention to the conversation: He's dead!

**_--10 second pause--_**

Daisy: Zee, no! I'll flood the bus with water. With a foot up to here! _**(--Holds hand up to above head--)**_

Asprey: I'm so glad I have no personal attraction to any stuffed animals.

**_a.k.a. Skittles31, who sends you salsa-ing, grape jelly-filled donuts in the rain to keep you company._**


	15. Epiphanies aren't always that wonderful

_**HELLO PEOPLE OF THE UNIVERSE AND BEYOND!!! Yes, that does mean you too, little alien dudes! --somewhere, in a galaxy far, far away, said little alien dudes threw a party for being mentioned on the Internet.--**_

**_In other words, wuzzup? I'm back --strikes a dramatic pose with her theme music playing in the background...wait a minute I have theme music?!!?--_**

**_Anyway, this chapter is mainly a filler, except for Demon's little insert at the end. IT HAS FAX, which I am ashamed to say that I only realized that I was neglecting in the last chapter. I know, I also nearly cried._**

**_Once again:_**

**_Max is like this._**

**Angel is like this.**

_Voice like this._

_Valerie like this._

**_And I'm like this._**

**_Disclaimer: If I say yes, then I get sued. If I say know, my heart begins o hurt so much I basically curl into myself. There's just no damn way to win, is there?_**

_**And now, ON WITH THE STORY!!!**_

* * *

_**--Max POV—**_

_**--Three Hours Later—**_

"Please, Fang," I asked, clinging onto his arm and giving him the best Bambi eyes that I could make.

Unfortunately for me, he wasn't budging.

"No," He said, and I saw the tiny smirk that was beginning to form on his face.

"Why not?" I whined, at the risk of sounding like a spoiled brat who wasn't getting whatever they wanted. But I was in need of food, and it was only after Val had shooed us out of the room that she and Iggy were sleeping in that I realized that we had lost usage of both of our chefs.

So now here I was, swallowing my pride and begging Fang to run out and get me food, because I was way too lazy to do anything that involved moving from the very comfy couch that I was currently lying down on.

"No, Max," Fang said, and my stomach growled once again.

"Puh-leeeeaaaassseeee?" I asked, not ready to get up from my throne of lazy. But Fang was not budging.

"Nope. Sorry Max," Fang said, plopping down next to me on the couch after moving my legs and prying my clenched fingers from his muscular, tan, smooth—

_**Ahem. I never thought that.**_

Turning my head so that Fang couldn't ask me about why my cheeks were suddenly so red, I focused my attention back on the clock. It was glaring above the TV in bright red letters "12:28 p.m.". I was attempting to restrain myself from chucking a pillow at it to stop its taunting me.

Fang and I sat there for a few more minutes when Gazzy came in whining about how hungry _he_ was. "Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaax? Can we please wake them up now? I'm staaaaaaaaaaaarrrving!"

I glared at Fang, mentally screaming at him that it was all his fault for not going and getting food. He just turned away, and I nearly screamed-- I tend to get a bit short tempered when I get really hungry. Then I turned back to Gazzy and said, "I'll see if I can get them up for you. But if I die in the process, please kill Fang for me." Fang let out a nearly inaudible chuckle.

I rolled off the couch, falling onto the pillows that I had kicked onto the floor, and then slowly stood up, in search of the only person who could possibly wake up Val without getting roasted to a crisp.

"Oh Demon…" I sing-songed, in search of our only chance of getting food.

* * *

A minute later, all of us were standing huddled around the door of Val and Iggy's "napping room". Demon had his hand on the doorknob, and was gratefully accepting all of our pep talks and going over our last minute plans for what happened if Val went "crazy-psycho" on him. Secretly, I think a majority of us were happy that it wasn't us who were being sent basically on a kamikaze mission.

After taking one final deep breath, and Gazzy beginning to hum the death march, Demon opened the door to face a drowsy looking Iggy.

"AnyyouguysseenVal?" He slurred, still looking like he was in deep need of sleep. After getting his message, we all shook our heads. Well, except Demon.

Demon smirked a bit and pushed Iggy from out of the doorway. He went over to the bed where we had last seen Val go to sleep and his smirk got even larger. I didn't know what the heck he was smiling about, the only thing on the bed were some sheets that were all twisted up.

Without any warning, he picked up the giant bundle and slowly started to move the sheets away. Eventually—_**Oh my gosh, she's a freaking butterfly!**_—Val, still practically dead to the world, began to reemerge from her cocoon.

"Val, wake up…" he whispered. Val rolled over and mumbled something that I couldn't make heads or tails of, trying to get closer to Demon, who I'm guessing must have been pretty warm.

_Of course, Max. That's exactly why_. Did I hear some sarcasm in the Voice's voice?

_**Are you mocking me?**_ And no, I didn't get an answer, I'll tell you from now.

Turning back to Demon, who had now successfully removed all of the sheets from Valerie's body, he was now trying to slowly wake her up.

"Val, come on. You need some food in your system. You haven't had all that much to eat since yesterday." Demon said, still in that soft, soothing voice that was completely new to the rest of us. "And don't think that I didn't notice that you didn't eat that much lunch yesterday."

Val began to show very tiny signs of life, but showed no sign of getting up any time soon.

Beginning to walk towards the door, Demon kept his eyes on Val, still curled up into his chest like a cat. _**Once again, the "Val was a panther in her last life" theory rears its head.**_

"Come on, Kat. You need to eat. You are not Superwoman." He whispered. His eyes had yet to leave Valerie's face, and we all stepped aside to let Demon back through the door, since he would have probably rammed right into Jinx anyways.

This time, Val actually responded in English. "Tired…"

"Sleep after you eat." Demon whispered, carrying Valerie through the doorway and heading back towards the kitchen. We all followed closely behind… well, everyone besides Nudge, who stayed with Iggy, who had apparently gone back to sleep when we weren't looking.

Val's eye opened a tiny bit, and then all the way. She blinked blearily a few times, and then whispered, "Put me on the couch…"

The rest of us were ecstatic. I even heard Mira's little "Yes!" _**We're gonna get some food! We're gonna get some food!**_

**We're gonna get some food!!! We're gonna get some food!!! **

_**Angel, get out of my head!**_

**Sorry Max.**

Demon, who I am glad to say was still alive and not injured in any way, silently followed her command. Once he dropped her, she slowly flipped over and began to stretch; looking exactly like a regular cat would after a nap.

_**Is she sure they didn't put some other feline DNA in her?**_

All at once, Val stiffened. I immediately started to backtrack, only to stop when I heard Val's voice in my head. _Don't even joke about that. I don't even know for sure if I'm just "2 percent Avian". I haven't translated my file. I want to keep it for last. If I find out I'm "part-whatever" along with the whole bird kid thing, I'm going to freak._

Slowly after the second glimpse at Val's life, she got up, and then nearly fell flat on her face after walking two steps towards the kitchen. Luckily, Demon was right there to catch her around the waist.

In that moment, several things happened simultaneously:

A: Angel started smirking.

B: Val said thank you.

C: Hope had this sort of self-epiphany, and openly stared eyes wide at the two best friends.

Valerie righted herself, and then immediately afterwards kept walking to the kitchen as if nothing had happened. We all sat in the living room, looking like a bunch of smiling lunatics, ready for some food. And now we had a chef, so all was well in the world, and I didn't have to prevent Fang from his daily job of being a buttmunch—_**Wow. Val's rubbing off on me fast.**_—and ask him –_**Well, more like tell him…**_--to go get me food.

About 40 minutes later, we were all sitting there, happily stuffing our faces with food. We had been in luck; the Refugees, as Val called them, had stocked up on food yesterday, so Val had enough materials to make us something edible. And deswishous. **_(A.N. Don't ask...)_**

Val was sitting propped against the couch, looking half-dead, with Demon sitting next to her. He was trying to convince her to eat.

"Just a piece of pasta," he said, holding a piece of pasta to her face. Val, looking terribly close to sleep, muttered, "No,"

"You have to eat something. It isn't good for you to go this long on that little bit of food that you had yesterday. Especially with our appetite." He said, still trying to get her to eat. She still refused.

_**I don't think he's getting, though, the fact that if Val is anything like him, then she is extremely stubborn, almost to the point of impossibility, and if she says that she isn't going to eat the pasta, then she ain't going to eat the pasta.**_

"Ugh! I didn't think you could get any more stubborn than you already were when we were 12! I didn't have the slightest clue!" Demon started raising his voice a little bit. Val, not put off at all by this, just waved him off and curled into herself on the floor. A few seconds later, she was asleep again.

Demon sighed and picked her up, whispering over his shoulder that he was going to put her back to bed. And then I went back to eating my pasta.

_**-Demon POV-**_

I scowled as I carried Val back into the bedroom, my thoughts racing.

I hated the way that Val had these nightmares. I hated the way that she got barely any sleep. I hated the way that she always put herself last, worrying about the rest of us before herself.

Val _never_ took good care of herself, even before we had busted out of the Institute. The few times we were given food, she would make sure that I had eaten enough for myself first, even if that meant giving up her serving to me. She'd always purposely get into trouble when the whitecoats came to test me. She knew that the Erasers would get ticked off and take her, leaving me, so she did it almost every day.

Val never seemed to have any care for her own life, so I had to watch over her myself. I made sure she ate food before I even touched mine, forced her to go to bed and stop taking all-nighter watches, put my life out on the line before she got the chance to.

It was my way of returning the favor. Even if it was way too late.

I'd always wondered about the way Val's mind worked. First off, I'd always despised the fact that Val could read my mind and I couldn't ever tell what she was thinking unless I read her facial expressions or she told me. (She always edited, too.) She had this thing for forgetting about herself in the attempts to please everyone else. It was like she had no regard for her own life.

She'd purposely tire herself out, which was the reason that she loved running so much. She'd just run and run and run, and I'd have to really work to keep up with her, since Val was always faster than me. Sometimes, when I caught a look at her face, she looked peaceful and like she wasn't running for her life. She looked like she enjoyed staying alive. And then we'd have to stop running to set up camp, and the blank-eyed-happy-go-lucky look would return.

I never got how she dealt with all of the work of being leader, even though I'm her best friend. She didn't break down, she didn't run away, she just took it as it came and served it right back.

And that's what worried me. When was she going to break?

* * *

**_Heya!! How'd you like it? I know, I rock. So awesomely it nearly blots out the sun._**

**_But seriously, how do you like Demon's character? I try to make him his own character, not exactly like Fang, but enough of the silent brooding so you get the feel of them being alike._**

**_Oh, and the Max Ride quote from the last chapter was from when Max was trying to cut the chip out of her arm with the seashell on the beach, and Fang came running up to her and told her to stop. He was furious and somewhere along the entire sequencing of the scene, he yelled to her, _**"...YOU DIE WHEN WE DIE!" **_-Fang_**

**_So don't just sit there reading this! Go and review!! Jeesh, I know you love the story and all but really, hurry it up with the reviews. Hoping to reach the 80 mark at least...hint hint, wink wink, nudge nudge._**

**_Peace, love, and exploding fire extinguishers, which totally defeat the purpose,_**

**_Skittles31_**


	16. Presents and a Demented Grape's Revenge

_**HELLO, PEOPLES OF THE INTERNET!!! AND PEOPLE READING OVER THE SHOULDERS OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE REALLY ON THE INTERNET!!! YES, I DO NOTICE ALL OF YOU TOO!**_

**_And no, I am not a stalker. I just know these things._**

_**Have I told you how much I partially hate my life?**_

_**Well, I will anyways:**_

_**My friend Marin (I wish her a thousand virtual cookies) brought a magazine to school today, and showed us this article on how apparently, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson are dating. Well, all of us were like, "SQUEEEEEE!!!" I quite literally said, "Nothing could possibly ruin this day for me!!"**_

_**Two pages later, the magazine also announces that apparently Taylor Lautner and Selena Gomez are officially dating.**_

_**Eff my life.**_

_**Anyways, going back to Dancing with Fire, to the people "RandomCUZISIDSOluver" and "Sanctuary-in-Dreams", who are two of my most frequent reviewers, you two were very right in thinking that the Refugees (well the original 10, anyway) were vamps. That will be further looked into during this chapter. HUZZAH!!**_

_**Disclaimer: How much do you think he wants for the books, though? Oh, and I don't own the songs "Hero" by Nas or "Living la Vida Loca" by Riki Martin. Even though we all know that I wish I did.**_

**_I DO own Val, Demon, The Refugees and Val's Flock, though. So touch them and pull back a bloody stump._**

_**And now, ON WITH THE STORY!!!**_

* * *

_**--Two hours later—**_

_**--Demon POV—**_

"HUZZAH FOR SPONGEBOB!!" Angel and Gazzy yelled, munching on some popcorn as all of us, minus Max, Fang, Valerie, and Iggy, sat there watching Nickelodeon. Igs and Kat were still sleeping, and my brother and Max were probably off making out somewhere…

Note the sarcasm quickly turning into annoyance.

**Jesus, they're in love with each other. JUST GET IT ON ALREADY!! BEFORE YOU BOTH DIE OF SEXUAL TENSION!**

"Umm, Demon? What exactly_ is_ sexual tension?" Angel asked. **Oh, my poor, innocent little sister…**

"Well, Angel…" I started off awkwardly. Just as a nearly silent chuckle sounded behind me.

Spinning around, I faced Val, who had quite obviously just woken up from her nap. "Christ, Val, would you stop doing that?"

She smirked, in the way that only Kat can smirk. "Quit what, breathing?"

Nudge stopped laughing with the others and started to stare at us both, as I could see from the corner of my eye.

Val hopped silently over the back of the couch, presenting me with a small box wrapped in blue paper. Looking at her confusedly, I tilted my head. She muttered, "Idiot." Then, out loud, she said, "Your birthday gift?"

"Oh." I took the gift from her and began to tear off the paper. However, Gazzy yelled, "WAIT!" and he and the rest of my dysfunctional family climbed over each other to settle themselves around Val and I who were the only ones sitting on the couch. At the exact same time, Max walked into the room, Fang trailing behind her. I shot him a look that clearly stated, 'Lovesick puppy'. He glared at me, then shot Val a look. Without looking away from him, she smacked me very hard upside the head. I turned my glare to her for a second, then turned back to Fang. I shot him another look, this one saying 'You had to get her to fight for you?' Once again, Val smacked me. I turned my full attention to her, glaring. She gave me her 'you're a sexist pig glare'. I glared a little harder and she threatened to hit me with her hand again, so I backed off. Max chuckled and shot Kat an approving look. Of course, Kat beamed, ever the feminist.

"And there they go again," Iggy muttered, pushing off the doorway and coming to sit beside Nudge--**No surprise there**--, who was kneeling beside Kat's foot.

Val chuckled. "Happy Birthday." I took the small blue box from her, holding it very carefully. Val had been spending a lot of time with Iggy, and I was really hoping it wasn't _my_ head that would be blown off first…

Ripping the wrapping paper off the box, I nearly had a heart attack. "You didn't…"

I looked away from the small black iPod Nano 3rd generation _**(A.N. THAT'S THE ONE I HAVE!! BUT MINE'S SILVER!!) **_that was staring me in the face to look at Kat. She shrugged, face impassive as almost always, and I nearly hit her.

"It already has a majority of your favorite songs, and you can use my laptop to download more songs if you ever want to." She said, obviously ignoring my fish face.

Setting the heaven sent gift down beside me, I basically tackled Kat, who in turn fell off the couch and nearly squished Nudge. Looking down at her, I said, "You're amazing." Then I frowned. "When did you get this? How much did it cost?"

Her face remained impassive as I got off of her, sat back on the couch and stared at her. "I got it about 2 days ago, and the amount of money slips my mind at the moment."

I narrowed my eyes at her again, clearly saying 'BS.' She gave me a smug look, saying, 'What you gonna do about it?'. I sighed, knowing that with that stubborn look on her face I would never get the info out of her.

"And now…" Max said, returning from the kitchen where she had apparently gone to retrieve the cake, "LET'S EAT!!"

Gina led us all in a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday" (once again) and then we cut the cake and started to eat. I moaned softly at the taste and Valerie, who had obviously heard me, laughed.

"Well, good to know I still can make the cake." She said, chuckling. I took an angry bite of my cake and huffed. I knew I looked like a little kid, but that was just too damn bad.

"Aww. Did I upset wittle Demon?" **Was she seriously using the baby voice on me?!**

I didn't give her an answer.

She just smiled even harder. "I think I did. Oh, I'm sorry, wittle baby!" She wailed, clambering over the couch to hug me again. She looked me in the eyes, pulling the patented Bambi eyes on me. "Forgive me?"

I tried, so hard, to not give in…

I lasted three seconds. "Meh." I grunted my forgiveness. "YAY!" she fake squealed, launching into another hug—**Or death squeeze. Depends on how you look at it…**

By the time we all had went to bed, I was a very happy bird kid.

* * *

_**--Two Days Later—**_

_**--Gina POV (A.N. Yay!)—**_

My day was going to go wonderfully, I could just tell.

Note very heavy sarcasm.

Well, I "woke up" this morning to screaming. More specifically, to Shawn shrieking like a banshee.

I turned over in Collin's arms to stare into his eyes. They were getting dark again, so we'd have to go hunt soon. "Do I really have to go?" I asked, not wanting to get up from my comfy position.

He chuckled, kissed my forehead, and said, "Yes. You do. Now go make sure he didn't explode or something. That's a scream reserved for yelling only at Valerie."

I sighed, got out of my very comfortable position, and walked out into the hallway.

I walked out into the living room to find—**WTF?!**—Shawn completely and totally tie-dyed purple, pink and green. He even had his shirt off and everything. His hair was this bright neon pink, and his skin was alternating between purple and green.

Quite honestly, he looked like a flipping demented grape.

"And I repeat! WTF?!?!" I yelled before giving into the overwhelming desire to just start cracking up.

And crack up I did.

Caramel was standing in front of him with an unholy grin on her face, taking his yelling hysterically at her very nicely.

In came Fang and Max next—**Do those two ever split up? They're always together!**--, followed by Nudge, Iggy, Mira—**I wonder how you take your boyfriend's being spray painted**—and Hope. As soon as they all caught sight of him, everyone quite literally fell apart.

Max fell backward into Fang, who in turn fell onto the couch, both of them looking like they were on drugs. The rest just fell onto the floor where they were, laughing their butts off.

And then Kami came in. "Mommy, why is Uncle Shawn a grape?" And even though I had been about to get up from off the floor, that set me off again.

Every time someone came into the room, they started cracking up. After Angel, Gazzy, Jinx, Skye, and Blaze had joined the mass of people who were dying of laughter on the floor, and had been laughing for about 15 minutes, Demon walked in.

Everyone immediately stopped laughing. **Oh, shnazz…**

Demon literally did a double take and his eyes went wide. Then he looked from Val to Shawn and said to Shawn, "I told you she'd get you. Val, how long does it take for that dye to wash out?"

Val smiled demonically. "Two days!"

"_**WHAT?!!?" **_Shawn shouted. I laughed. Again.

Demon ignored his comment and said, "Yup. You're so screwed." And then he went over to Val and said, "You did, among all this chaos, make breakfast, yes?"

She rolled her eyes at him and walked towards the kitchen. He caught up with her and linked arms with her, attempting to convince her to reenact the "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" dance from the Wizard of Oz with him.

Thankfully, she refused.

We all stared as they left, and Fang got a certain look on his face. It was "the epiphany face" that everyone had been getting over the past few days as they looked at Val and D interact with each other. And then right after that he pulled the blackmail face. **Yup. This can't end well.**

About two hours later, D, Kami, Angel, Exie, Gazzy, Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Collin, Drex, Nate, Gem, Mini and I were sitting down, watching mind numbing television when Caramel came in.

"Spar with me." She said, plopping down next to D. He took one look at her and asked, "Why?"

She shrugged. "Bored."

Immediately Exie pounced. "Oh! Can I please please please watch?!?! I love watching you two fight! It's so pretty! And can I pick the soundtrack?! Because you guys always used to let me do that since Val loves music an--" Immediately, A.J. slapped his hand over her mouth, since we all knew very well that once she started to talk, you just couldn't stop her. And plus, she didn't have to breathe, so that didn't help any of our ears.

D thought about it for about 3 seconds and said, "Sure." Then another one of their "silent-looks-that-say-a-lot" passed between the two and Val rolled her eyes, getting up and leaving Demon lying on the floor.

Everyone, because this was a very good source of entertainment --**Or, at least better than sitting in front of the TV**-- got up and started to follow after the two of them. Well, besides Niara and Ray, since:-

For some unknown reason, Niara has a personal vendetta against Caramel, and

Ray is almost always never with the rest of us.

About 5 minutes later, we ("we" being about 20 of us) were all on the second floor of the building, which we had fixed to look like a dojo. The spectators were all lined up against the wall, and Val and Demon were about 15 feet apart facing each other. Exie was sitting beside the iPod stereo, ready to change the song.

I got up and said the rules: "There are no rules. Pull out all the stops, just don't kill each other! Bloodstains are impossible to remove!!!"

Val must have done a countdown in her head, because 5 seconds after everyone had finally settled down, they both lunged at each other. Exie started to play "Hero", by Nas.

Demon, always the straightforward one, aimed a punch right at her stomach. Val, seeing this, used his outstretched hand as sort of a springboard and flipped herself straight over his head. Still in midair, she twisted backwards and aimed a kick to the middle of his back, and he stumbled forward. She landed unharmed.

Demon turned back in the other direction, and charged her again. This time, he tried to kick her legs out from under her. Val jumped in the air and aimed a kick at his head, which he avoided nicely by rolling sideways. She landed again and aimed a punch at his stomach, which landed nicely and he let out a grunt.

Grabbing her arm, he pulled her closer and swept her legs out from under her. She landed on the ground with a thud and then rolled over backwards and freed her arm, simultaneously making Demon unstable. She then swung her foot around from her crouching position and kicked the back of his knees, causing him to fall forward into a roll.

Flipping over, she aimed a chop at his collarbone, but he rolled out of the way so that her hand was heading towards just the floor. Opening her hand again, she made the attack into another one handed flip and landed unharmed about 2 feet away from her target.

It was for reasons like this that I loved seeing these two fight. They had specific styles of attack. Demon never really thought through his attacks, and put all his strength into his punches and kicks. So he was sort of like a graceful animal that was also very strong, and the strength outdid the grace. Like a lion.

Valerie, on the other hand, had stealth and grace, like a snake. She made everything a dance, very fluid, and plus, her attacks were deadly. She was also very strategic, and her attacks, if you didn't watch it, could put you out before you knew what had happened.

The two of them together were seriously a force to be reckoned with.

By the time I had finished with my epiphany, "Hero" was over and Exie was forcing them to fight/ dance to "Living La Vida Loca". Val smiled—**Well, this is Val we're talking about. It was a smirk,**—and launched another attack at Demon. I shot Exie a look because really, how the hell do you spar to Riki Martin?

Needless to say, Exie didn't give me an answer. Instead, she started to dance in place.

And then Val started to get into the music. In complete time with the music, she threw punches and kicks. She even managed to spin around in complete time with the music while dodging all of Demon's attacks. About 2 minutes later, Val had flipped over Demon for the umpteenth time, pulled him downwards by his shoulder at the same time, and was now straddling him with her fist set on fire, aimed at his face.

Just as the song was ending, too. **Damn, she's good.**

"I win." She said, getting up off of Demon to help him up. She ignored all of our staring at her, wondering when the hell she learned how to flip like that, and walked out of the room yelling/ singing, "I'm HUNGRY! GONNA MAKE ME SOME FOOD!"

3 seconds later, Demon was up and walking out behind her, yelling, "HAZE! DON'T EMPTY OUT THE FRIDGE! WE NEED SOME OF THAT FOOD, TOO!!"

The rest of us trickled out behind them, chuckling to ourselves. Iggy was muttering to himself, "How the hell is it that he doesn't get all pissed off that a girl beat him?"

Obviously, Max heard him and reached over Fang to smack him upside the head. Once again, I chuckled to myself.

**Ok, maybe today won't be so bad…**

**

* * *

**

_Sooooo, how was it? Did you laugh? Did you at least smile? Did the mental image of a mini Fang with green eyes pouting make you want to laugh hysterically?_

_I hope so. I worked really hard on this, people. SO REVIEW!! You may reread as many times as you wish. I don't judge you. Just write some comments!! NO FLAMES!!! They will only be used for roasting marshmallows for smores._

_Peace, love, and "Slinkies + Escalators = EVERLASTING FUN!!!",_

_Skittles31_


	17. And my day was going so well

_**I'M BACK!!! Thank you, thank you, hold the applause.**_

**_But seriously, I only have 3 more days of school! --Does cabbage patch-- Unfortunately, that also means that a significant number of my friends are leaving to go off to other schools. --Sobs in a corner.--_**

**_But, let's not dwell on that fact, shall we? Instead, I will cheer and jump for joy, because this story has reached the 90 REVIEW MARK!!! CUE CONFETTI! --Clown appears in beackground with insane balloon tying skills--_**

**_Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!! --beats clown to a pulp--_**

**_Don't ever send me a clown as thanks. Seriously. Take this as a lesson._**

_**Seriously, have I mentioned how much I love you people? Thank you for sticking with me this entire way.**_

**_This chapter is dedicated to "Dark-wings-Black-rose", who asked for more Fax. I am aware that I have neglected the Fax, --begins sobbing-- which is probably the most horrible thing I have ever done in my life. So Dark-wings-Black-rose? If you're reading this, I hope you can stand the amount of Fax I put in this chapter._**

**_And now, for the little tearing of my soul. You know, at this rate, I'm going to have absolutely no soul left in me? Jambalaya._**

**_Disclaimer: Next time I get several skin tones lighter, change my gender, and mysteriously age while simultaneously losing my hair, I'll let you know. But I do own Val, Demon, Skye, Blaze, Mira, Shawn, Hope, Jinx, the Refugees, and Kami. So there. Touch them, you die a long painful death._**

**_And now, ON WITH THE STORY!_**

* * *

_**--Max POV—**_

"Yo, Max."

Fang. Fang's voice. I blinked and sat up fast, grabbing the sheets. "Wha'?" I panted. "What's, what's—"

"Let's take a little spin." Fang motioned outside. I looked around. The girls were sleeping in this room, boys in the other. Outside, the night was deep but bright with moonlight.

"Why?" I whispered.

He smiled unexpectedly, and my heart gave a little squeeze. "Because we can."

I sighed, cursing my heart's inability to beat at a stable pace when Fang was around, and pushed him out the door, saying, "I'll be out in a sec. Lemme get some clothes on."

Something flashed through Fang's eyes, and before I could ask him about it, he turned around, with what I think was the hint of a blush on his face, and walked back into his and the boys' room across the hall. _**Huh.**_

A few minutes later, I was freefalling from my room's window, Fang right behind me. I shot out my wings, the air catching, and glided upwards into the dark night sky. _**This **__**is what I live for.**_

After we had been flying in silence for about 15 minutes, Fang swooped down like a giant black cat with wings and playfully said, "Tag. You're it."

He took off without another word as I stared after him trying to figure out what the hell was his problem. After a few more seconds of hesitation, I shook my head and yelled, "COME BACK HERE!"

We were little kids again, like before Jeb had left and Fang talked more and wore colors other than black more often than once a year. I tackled Fang from above using super sonic speed and we both went crashing toward the earth into…

… one of the Great Lakes.

Soaking wet and freezing cold, we both shot out of the water as soon as we could. We started flying again, even though this time we were just slightly heavier from the weight of the water.

Eventually we landed. Immediately Fang bent over and started shaking his hair wildly like some sort of dog. Spraying me in the process. "Hey!" I yelled, tackling him to the ground. We rolled around on the ground for a bit. I ended up lying sprawled on top of him, chuckling. "What, Superman finally got beaten?"

Something flashed in his eyes again and all of a sudden I was flipped over so that I was pressed against the sand. Fang was looming over me, staring at me with those eyes. Somewhere in the back of my mind, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" started playing. I quickly squelched that thought.

I was suddenly aware of the fact that Fang looked way too mysteriously handsome in the moonlight, and that my arms were around his torso to keep from being thrown around on the ground. I was also acutely aware of three facts:

Fact Number 1: Fang's arms were forming a cage around my head.

Fact Number 2: I couldn't really move.

Fact Number 3: We were breathing heavily, and slowly getting closer.

Everything in my mind was screaming at me to get up and just fly away, and my brain was sending messages to the rest of my body to _**just turn away**_.

Unfortunately, my head really wasn't that connected to the rest of me today, and then Fang kissed me. Suddenly the giant war occurring inside of my body completely stopped, and I lost any common sense that I had.

My eyes were shut, and I was sort of kind of frozen. I wanted to kiss him, but I didn't. Have I mentioned how much I hate emotions? This tingling in the pit of my stomach, the want, the complete contentedness at being here in Fang's arms? I hated it. I felt vulnerable and so not me. I was starting to get light headed from not breathing for so long, so I broke away.

Fang rolled off of me, and I sat up, now feeling really awkward and really cold. _**Stupid Fang and his stupid body heat.**_

Looking anywhere but at Fang's face, I said, "Umm… so… what did you want to talk about?"

I swear, I heard Fang hiss something unintelligible under his breath, but then he shook his head violently and said, like the last 2 minutes of our bird kid lives had never happened, "How do you like staying with the other mutants?"

I bit my lip, knowing that I had possibly screwed up for about a week's worth of time with Fang, but answered him anyway, blowing "The Kiss: Part… Lost Count" off into some corner of my brain to be thought over exhaustingly some other day. "They're alright. The kids are happy. So it's all okay. And Val's okay, too, so that's even better." The way I said Ivy's name sounded strange on my tongue.

I think Fang noticed too. "What's up with you and Val?" He asked, his voice sounding loud in the quiet of the night.

I turned to look at him. "What are you talking about?"

His eyes bored into mine, the fire that was in them earlier gone. "When Val nearly blew a fuse at Niara, and you calmed her down, before that you guys were in that room for a long time. We burst in there and you looked really deep in thought, staring at Val. What happened?"

I turned away from him, looking out toward the water of whichever Great Lake we were in front of. "It… she was just telling me something about her past."

"Like what?"

"It's not my story to tell."

He was silent for a few moments, and then: "Max. This concerns both you and my little sister. I need to know what happened." _**(A.N. Aww! Protective Fang is so cute!)**_

"No. You really don't." I said, just about snarling at Fang. Every since we had gotten older, Fang had gotten this need to always be on top of the situation. It was like his male ego was slowly expanding as he grew up, that or his bird genes were seriously kicking in. It was seriously annoying.

Fang growled, I kid you not, and said, "Max. You had better tell me or I swear—"

"Or you'll what?" I challenged. Once again, we were little kids, trying to get the better of each other.

And then I was lying underneath Fang again, with him holding my hands above my head to keep me from moving anywhere. "I'll kiss you again. I swear, Max, you know that I'm not playing with you," Fang growled, his voice sounding a little bit deeper as I stared up at him for the second time tonight.

My brain got the message pretty fast this time, and I said –_**More like squealed…**_-- ,"Fine! God, just get OFF of me!"

Fang chuckled as he got off of me, and I once again was forced to feel the cold of the night once he moved his… sort of… warm… body…

_**I need a lot of sleep. My thought process is soooo screwed up.**_

"Well, you know how Val and D were separated for a really long time?" He nodded. "And you were there when her flock said that she was really quiet and reserved and kept to herself for those three years after they had broken out of the Institute?" Another nod, and then: "Damn it, Max, cut to the chase, or I swear I will—"

"Well, she started cutting herself!" I squeaked out, trying to avoid Fang kissing me again and not bothering to beat around the bush anymore.

It was silent, and then Fang's roar filled my ear. "WHAT?!?" I cringed.

"How could she do that to herself?!" Fang was going on a rampage, and in the back of my brain it registered that he was acting almost exactly like Val does or would right about now.

"Well, she did. Blaze and Skye caught her in the act after she had had a nightmare—it was her way of making sure that she was still alive and could feel something—and stopped her. She hasn't done it again since." I explained, feeling horrible that I betrayed Val like this. I tried to shake off the feeling.

Fang was quiet for a while, just breathing heavily, and I could tell that he was trying not to punch something really hard or go into some sort of rage. Then he said, "Let's go back."

When we had finally gotten back, I said to Fang, "Don't tell Val that I told you this." He nodded minutely, and turned to go back into one of the boys' room.

I sighed, changing my clothes and going back to bed, knowing that I had quite possibly screwed up big time. _**Fudge.**_

* * *

_**--Next Day—**_

_**--Valerie POV—**_

I was calmly making breakfast for my large Avian family and that was where my good day officially ended.

Fang came into the room, almost silently of course, and I nodded my head to acknowledge him. He just stared at me, and the look was the same as the one Blaze had had when he… figured out…

"MAX!!!" I screeched, turning around to glare at her and getting ready to roast her like a turkey on Thanksgiving. She jumped back, knowing that I was getting ready to go on a homicidal rampage. "Damn it, HOW COULD YOU?!"

With that, I threw the frying pan onto the counter, turned, and stormed out of the room, leaving everyone staring after me wondering what the hell was wrong with me. Max came after me. I wheeled on her. "I told you that and I _thought_ that you weren't going to tell anyone! WTH?" I yelled. **_(A.N. By the way, "WTH?!" stands for "What the hell?" Val isn't really yelling that. She's actually yelling "Wa-Ta-Huh?", which is what the 3 letters sound like if "wth" was really a word. If some of you are saying "WTH?" as I try to explain this, she's just sounding out the letters as a word.) _**

"I'M SORRY! I DIDN'T MEAN TO SAY ANYTHING!" She yelled, then abruptly lowered her voice. "Fang threatened to kiss me again!"

I stared at her like she was out of her mind. "This is Fang that we're talking about. And why in the name of Bird-Kids are _**you**_ complaining?!? Jeez, Max, you should know how much I hate pity. Now you went and told him that and I feel like some sort of animal in a cage being stared at. And wait a minute, what you mean _**again**_?" I said, pacing around the hallway and stopping as Max's face started to turn red.

Knowing that she wasn't about to say anything out loud, I started searching Max's mind for what the heck she was talking about. And then: "HOLY SH—"

Max slapped her hand over my mouth. "You don't say anything about this," she growled.

Remembering the last 3 minutes of conversation that had just passed between Max and me, I said, sweetly and completely fakely, "Of course." Angel was hearing about this as soon as Max's hand moved from my mouth. _**Karma's a bi-atch, ain't it Maxi?**_

Max let out a huge breath of relief as her hand moved from my mouth. _**ANGEL! Did you get that?**_

**I heard it all. I'm currently trying not to bounce up and down and squeal like a little girl.**

_**Good.**_

"And Val, I'm really sorry about the entire… thing," Max said.

I turned around, rubbing my head—_**There is a headache coming on**_—and said, "I just… need some time for myself, thanks." I walked away into the bedroom where I was staying, flopping down on my bed. I tried to extend my wings to wrap around myself, just feeling in the mood since I hadn't flown in a few days.

_Nothing happened._

I jumped up and lifted my shirt, standing in front of the mirror, staring at my back.

Complete silence, and then, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" I yelled, looking at myself in the mirror. _They…no…where… Ohmigosh._

Nudge came running into the room first, and in the part of my mind that was still functioning as if nothing bad had happened, I thought, _Iggy should be coming soon, then._

Sure enough, my big brother was in the room moments after Nudge was. Kami even tottered her way through the doorway, asking, "Momma?" with an adorable albeit confused expression on her face.

My voice wasn't working properly, so when Nudge started to shoot questions at me, I couldn't have answered even if I wanted to. Nudge then walked up to me, not taking me silence very well and slapped me across the face. Kami immediately protested, running over and hitting her little balled up fists against Nudge's legs. Nudge ignored her.

Through the sting on one side of my face I was able to thank her for that little shock treatment. I silently and almost robotically picked up Kami, putting her on my hip again. Her arms automatically wrapped around my neck, and I started to bounce slightly in place.

"Would you please tell us what's going on?" Iggy said, glancing back and forth between the mirror behind me to my face, still frozen in that almost scream position.

"Wings…" I whispered, realizing that I was about to burst into tears. _Jeez, I'm just an emotional time bomb today, aren't I?_

Nudge turned me around and lifted up the back of my shirt. "Oh no…"

Iggy started shouting unintelligible things, and my last thought before I fainted backwards onto the bed was, _Well, my good day just got shot down the drain._

* * *

**_Just a slight cliffy. BUT HOW DID YOU LIKE THE CHAPTER?!? QUIT READING IT OVER AND JUST REVIEW! Then you may reread as many times (and possibly review as many times... hint hint nudge nudge) as you like._**

**_I have the entire thing mapped out in my head now, though. And, honestly, this isn't even a third of the way through the entire story. So buckle up, it's going to be a LONG ride._**

**_I'm going to also --way in the future, don't worry about it now-- put up a few polls that pertain to the story. So I'll post maybe a chapter or two in advance that I'm posting a poll on my profile. So if you review, check out the poll thingy or just write your answer in the review._**

**_Grazie. LOVE YOU ALL!_**

**_Peace, love, and Iggy as a drag queen (now let's all just take a moment to truly appreciate that image... and laugh hysterically),_**

**_Skittles31_**


	18. A reaction and Girl Talk part one HELP!

_**Well, I'm very happy to say that right now I am jumping up and down, squealing like a maniac. Do you know why?**_

**_I won't even bother to ask you why you think so. Instead, saving time, I will tell you. WE HAVE PASSED 100 REVIEWS!!!_**

**_I am officially the happiest person in the entire world. But, g_****_oing into the actual story now:_**

**_First off, the first part (or at least, the first few lines) of the last chapter was from "The Final Warning". And I'm hoping that everyone was extremely happy with the amount of Fax from the last chapter, by the way. That was also my favorite chapter to write so far, and this one is probably one of the longest one's that I've ever written. _**

**_This chapter was really hard to write because I had to try and get into Fang's head. (Please note that by the time that I actually went to bed, all I could think about were large black wings soaring through the sky.) Also, I was forced to rush posting this one (my aunt, mother, and grandma (see profile) wanted me off Delilah (I named my computer while I was on a "Plain White T" high, don't judge me) by 9). I personally think that the first part was pure rubbish. But that's just me thinking the worst of myself again, and so I hope that you enjoy, since it's your opinion that counts to me._**

**_Disclaimer: Yeah, James Patterson still owns the series. Nothing's changed since the last disclaimer. Don't look for any changes the next time you read my disclaimer. I guarantee that there will be no difference the next time. And so does James Patterson._**

**_And now, ON WITH THE STORY!!!!_**

* * *

_**--Val POV--**_

_Holy fudge…_ I thought as I slowly opened my eyes. "What the heck just happened?" I muttered to myself. Kami, who had crawled over to lay on top of my stomach, was now squeezing my stomach, hugging me and crying at the same time.

"MOMMY!!" She screamed, burying her face even deeper into my torso, making it even harder for me not to burst out into hysterical laughter. '_Cause I'm pretty sure that would confuse the heck outta her._

**WOULD YOU STOP GETTING HURT AND/OR HURTING YOURSELF ALREADY?!**

_Well hello, Angel. And I did not get hurt and/ or hurt myself… this time._

Rubbing circles on Kami's back to calm her down, I slowly sat up. Once I was back in a full sitting position, I immediately saw the mirror and everything came rushing back to me. _Oh gosh…_

Nudge, seeing my impending panic, immediately sat down beside me on the bed. "Calm down, Val. We're going to figure out what the hell happened, okay?" I sat there; practically motionless, staring off into space, still robotically rubbing Kami's back.

It registered somewhere in my brain that everyone was in the room now—_No doubt that Nudge called them in here_—and Iggy was trying to make sense of the situation. "Okay, so you're not injured or anything. There's no scar, no broken bone, and nothing's dislocated. I really have no idea what the hell happened." Iggy said, completing his analysis of my back.

"Did anything weird happen concerning your back recently?" Hope asked, looking more serious than she had ever looked in the entire time that I had known her. _Because this is serious chiz._

I shook my head, unable to get my voice to work. I was going to explode… just as soon as I figured out who or what had done this.

Max's face went blank –_Grrr to her._—and I zoomed in on her conversation with the Voice that she had in her head. _Which is still, quite honestly, the freakiest thing I have ever heard of in my genetically altered life._

_Valerie's developed a new power which you all will have eventually__**.**_

_**YOU MEAN ALL OUR WINGS ARE GOING TO DISAPPEAR?!?!?**_

_No, and hello Valerie. _Freaked out by the sudden acknowledgement, I realized that it meant that I could talk to the Voice in Max's head. _Now that right there is the freakiest thing I have heard of in my genetically altered life._

_Yes, I am aware that this is slightly uncomfortable—_

_UNCOMFORTABLE?!/__**UNCOMFORTABLE?!**_

_No need to repeat whatever I say._

_DO NOT GIVE ME SASS, MAN!! MY WINGS ARE GONE, AND I AM FREAKING OUT. SO DO NOT GIVE ME THAT FUDGECAKE!_

_**Val, calm down. You're giving me a headache.**_

_HUSH IT, YOU! I'M STILL PISSED OFF ABOUT YOU TELLING FANG ABOUT MY PAST!_

_Please, the both of you save this for later? I have more information on why Val's wings disappeared, and it's nothing to worry about._

_**Go ahead. **_/_Hurry it up then!_

_This is a new ability that all of you will have very soon. Because you are getting older, as you heard before, Max, you're all mutating on your own. This is another skill that will allow you to blend in better wherever you are._

_Yeah, that's wonderful that we all get a new skill and I'm the guinea pig, but how the heck do I shut it OFF?!_

_Calm down, Valerie. You're overreacting._

Ok, now I was pissed off. I was in a flipping bad mood because of Max telling Fang about what had happened years ago, my nerves were pretty frayed from my wings disappearing, and now someone was trying to tell me what to do. Three of my least favorite things, all together in one day. Someone was going to get their butt whooped.

_Listen up, you. A lot of crap has happened to me today, so I personally don't think that this is an overreaction to anything. So buzz off._

Then I felt a little sharp twinge of pain in my head, and my unconscious growling cut off. I threw my hands at my head, and then all the pain stopped.

_Now, if you will let me finish a sentence, Valerie--_

_Arsehole._

_If you focus on your wings returning, then I'm sure that they will reappear._

_…I still think you're an arsehole._

Leaving Max's mind, finally, I shook my head slightly from left to right, and my eyes refocused on the wall in front of me.

"VAL! YOU HAVE GOT TO STOP ZONING OUT ON US LIKE THIS! LIVE! I'LL START TO SING AGAIN!"--3 second pause-- "AND WE GO FLYING IN AN AIRPLANE, LOOKING OUT THE WINDOW!--" Hope was in the middle of screeching songs from Barney at me, her voice mixed in with Nudge, who was yelling into Max's ear, "MAX!! THE WORLD IS ENDING! GAZZY'S BLOWN UP THE ATLANTIC OCEAN! FANG'S PROPOSING! IGGY'S STREAKING THE BUILDING WITHOUT ANY CLOTHES ON! ANGEL'S GOING GOTH!--"

"SHUT UP!" I yelled, my nerves still frayed, as could be seen by everyone. _I swear, this had better work, or some major part of the Earth is being blown up today._

Shutting my eyes and picturing myself flying, I felt a slight burning in my back, then a few seconds of pain and then my wings were fully extended to their 15 and a half foot wingspan.

I nearly squealed of happiness.

Instead, I opted the more "Val" version: I grabbed Kami, ran to the window, and jumped out, spreading my wings and bursting with joy. I soared straight upwards, thanking whatever God there was that Gina had decided to rebuild one of the abandoned buildings on the very outskirts of town so we would have a lot of privacy and no one could see us and alert the media.

Flapping my wings, I hovered, spinning around and around with Kami in arms. "I GOT MY WINGS BACK! I GOT MY WINGS BACK!"

The presence of another mind and some wing flaps alerted me that there was someone else with me in the sky. Flipping upside down, earning a squeal from Kami, I turned to face Fang. _Well, this can't end well at all._

Giving me a nod, he flew straight upwards, past me, and nearly disappeared in the glare of the sun. His mind was racing, and he was throwing curse words around mentally like a flower girl throws around petals at a wedding. _He's calling me out._

Flying back to the window, I set Kami down on the bed. "Stay, baby girl. I have to go and… _talk_ to your Uncle Fang." She nodded, wobbling off the bed to get to Nudge, who was holding out her arms with a gleeful expression on her face.

Shaking my head, I nose dived to the Earth, pulling back up just in time to not turn into a pancake. I shot upwards, flapping my wings to catch up with Fang, who was waiting in the same spot that I had left him.

Hovering on Fang's level, I crossed my arms, raising an eyebrow. He immediately started.

**How the f*** could you do that to yourself?!**

I sighed, knowing that Fang had a tendency to overreact when it came to his family. And I guess that I qualified as family now. _I wasn't thinking properly._

**Damn straight, you weren't thinking properly. What do you think Demon would have done if he knew?**

_He **won't **know. He's **never **going to know._ I swear, if he told anyone about that…. He wasn't even supposed to have known in the first place, and yet, here was Fang lecturing me on my past actions.

We glared at each other for a few minutes, because we were both way too stubborn for our own good. I knew that he wanted to tell Demon, just to teach me a lesson, like the big brother he was getting to be. He knew that I would cheerfully disable him before he even got the chance to get within 15 feet of his brother. And we both knew that one of us would not enjoy the outcomes of either situation.

Fang took a deep breath, bowing his head. **Just… don't do it again. I don't take stuff like this well. **

_Yeah. I noticed, bro._

He emitted a small chuckle, and I launched at him, hugging him. _Thank you for caring._

Of course, he was completely frozen and not responsive to my hug, so I backed off. "You need to learn to hug like a man," I said, using my playful scolding voice. He rolled his eyes, but then they got serious again as he thought, **Demon was right. Sometimes, you really don't think things through before you do them.**

_NOT TRUE!_

**That's what he'd said that you'd say.**

Folding my wings, I shot back at him _Screw him. And shut up, you._

Ignoring my attempt to ignore his jabs, he folded his wings too, falling beside me as we went through a cloud. I shot my wings back out again, streaking back upwards into the sky. Fang started calling out for me mentally again.

**So what happened with your wings?**

I flipped over, face to the sun, only to be blocked by the shadow of Fang. _It's apparently some new power we're all going to get. We're going to be able to hide our wings. I just happened to be the guinea pig for the experiment._

**So we're all going to freak out and end up without our wings for an unknown amount of time?**

I glared at him. _You would have flipped out too._

He glanced down at me and chuckled. **Nope.**

_Oh, right, because you are obviously Mr. Calm, Cool, and Collected, and could never freak out due to the disappearance of your wings. Note my heavy sarcasm._

He chuckled again at me, this time shaking his head. _Screw you, Fang._

I pulled in my wings again, this time spiraling straight downward at an alarming speed. Fang surprisingly followed after me.

About 100 feet from the ground, we pulled up, and started flying back towards our family. We shot through the open window, Fang first, then me, and both of us landed crouching. No one said anything, so I guess Max had told them what the Voice had said. I stood back up, gave Fang a nod, and, folding my wings back in, walked out of the room to get the breakfast that I had yet to eat. **_(A.N. I was tempted to end it here, but...)_**

* * *

_**--Later That Day—**_

"Val, I don't think I could ever thank you enough!" Mira squealed and I heard her start twirling in circles down he hallway. Immediately, I froze.

_Oh chiz. That's the "Lovesick Mira" voice. Fudge. STAY AWAY FROM THE LIGHT!_

I shot up from where I was in the living room-- nearly running Angel over—and ran out of the room, Max chuckling behind me. "Val?! Where are you?!" I didn't answer and kept running. Almost mowing people down in my attempt to not listen to Mira pine over Shawn, I ran into the boys' room and slammed the door, panting heavily.

Iggy, Demon, Gazzy and Jinx all stared back at me, with varying levels of shock on each of their faces. "Umm…" Gazzy broke the silence as I trudged over to their bed, trying to hide myself.

"Mira's attempting to catch me and force me to engage in girl talk," I said, voice slightly muffled from hiding under the covers. I heard Iggy start to laugh at me.

I heard Demon's plan in his mind before he even did anything. "D, don't you dare. I will shoot you in the kneecaps! I will decapitate you! I will—"

"MIRA! VAL'S IN HERE!" Demon yelled. _Flippin' traitor._

I wrestled out from under the covers and tried to get to the window, until Demon wrapped me up in his arms and lifted me straight off the ground. "You're not going anywhere."

I struggled, and then just as Mira poked her head in through the doorway, I flung my weight around and landed on the floor with Demon under me. "HA! I WIN!"

Obviously not taking his defeat well, he rolled over so that I was on the bottom and he was pressing all his weight into me. We glared at each other for a few seconds—_or maybe it was minutes? Not entirely sure anymore…_-- and then Mira dragged me out from under him. "COME ON! BYE GUYS!" Mira yelled, dragging me out of the room, ignoring my attempts to get away.

We passed by Fang in the hallway, who took one look at Mira's gleeful expression, and then mine, which was... not so gleeful (more like the exact opposite) and chuckled. "Good luck." He said.

I glared at him. "You and your brother are both evil traitors."

He just turned away. _He's next on my hit list._

Mira dragged me back to the room where she, Hope, Nudge, and Skye were all staying—there were _way_ too many of us to be in only one room—and shoved me to the bed. "Sit." Knowing that there was no chance of me getting out of here anytime soon without a massive distraction and a smoke bomb, I plopped down, making myself comfortable.

Mira dropped down next to me, an ecstatic smile on her face. "THANK YOU!!" She screeched at me, hugging me so hard I nearly blacked out. "If you had never given me that kick in the butt that I needed, then I would never have been this happy. EVER!" Then something seemed to have clicked in her head. "Oh, and thank you for using dye that washed out after two days. I swear, I lo-- he may be my boyfriend, but anymore looking at my multicolored boyfriend and I would have gone mad."

I was about to say something, but then Angel and Nudge poked their heads into the room. "Just making sure that Val's still alive," Angel said cheerfully.

"Yeah, with the way she was screaming, you would have thought she was being tortured or something," Nudge said.

"Yeah, she's fine. She just has a tendency to overreact when I whip out that voice," Mira said. Nudge and Angel then took it upon themselves to settle themselves into the room, as well as Skye, Hope, and… _Max?_

"Umm, Max?" I asked her as she walked into the room. "I'm being forced to listen to girl squeal. That doesn't mean that you have to listen to it, too."

Max smiled at me from where she had sunk down into a bean bag chair. "Yeah, but I wanted to let you feel that you were not alone."

_You just really don't want me to shoot and/ or murder you and you're trying to suck up._

_**Yeah, pretty much.**_

"But, anyway, Mira was just about to tell us about when she realized that she was in love with Shawn," I said, smirking as I watched everyone's face change drastically; Mira's to complete and utter shock, everyone else ecstatic.

And then Mira's nerves kicked in. "I never—What are you—When did I—" --deep breath-- "I never said that. I mean, pssh. Ha. Wha—Whe—Psh!" Mira started trying to brush off what I'd said, even though she was mentally freaking out.

"You do realize that Ange and I are both mind readers and can send what you're thinking right now to everyone in the room, right?" I asked her, trying not to laugh.

Mira glared at me for 3 seconds, then reached for a pillow behind her and hit me with it upside the head, throwing me backwards. "AWW, HEEEEELLLLLLLLL TO THE NO!!" I yelled, grabbing a pillow as well and tackling her, simultaneously hitting her with the pillow.

Everyone was laughing at us, even as we finally finished fighting and the feathers that were flying around in the air settled in our hair—_Damn it!_—and we finally stopped tackling each other. "But anyway," Nudge continued, a gleam in her eye which was probably not good for Mira, "What was this about you're finally admitting you're in love with Shawn?"

Mira threw herself backwards onto the bed, groaning. "Stupid evil sisters who hear everything," she muttered.

"Yeah, we do hear everything," Max said, snickering. "But you're not getting out of this easily. So why don't you tell big sister Max—"

"—and sister Val—"

"—and sister Nudge—"

"—and sister Angel—"

"—and sister Hope—"

"—and sister Skye—"

"—exactly what's going on," Max said.

Mira growled at all of us, then, realizing that she couldn't win, she surrendered. "I can't… I don't know when this… please don't tell him."

"I knew there was always something there, I just didn't know it was that strong," she whispered, staring off into space. Obviously she noticed us getting ready to pounce on her and shook herself out of it. "Well enough about me. Wouldn't any of you like to hear about how Val's been getting a little action while we were all off doing something else?"

Squeals filled the room as I tried to battle off the thoughts and words that were flying through the room. "OK, NO! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO-OO-OO!" I yelled, taking one look at all of their extremely gleeful faces and knowing that I should have booked it when I had the chance. Jumping up, I took one look at each of their faces and said, "THERE IS NOTHING!" I said, well screeched, at all of them.

"Uh-huh, that's exactly why when I walked into the room, Demon was holding you around the waist, and then you were straddling him, and then he had rolled you both over and you were staring into each other's eyes for _2 minutes straight_ while I was waiting to talk to you," Mira said, smirking my patented smirk. Everyone immediately started to smirk at me, and I tried to squelch this flame before it grew any larger. _Oh. How appropriate, a fire acknowledgement for the girl who controls fire._

"Ok, the only reason he was holding me like that was because I was trying to run to the window and escape before Mira forced me into girl talk, which I now realize was pointless of me. There is no romance there!" I said, not doing anything to help stop the ideas forming in these people's heads.

"Oh! He knows you so well!" Nudge squealed.

"Oh, shut up, Iggy lover!" I said, and to my extreme amusement, she shut up immediately. _Well, love is in the air._

"DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT! You two were made for each other!" Hope squealed.

"Yup, that's it. I'm out of here," I said, getting up to walk out of the room.

"So, while you're here, and we're having complete girl talk time, Val? What do you look for in a guy?" Angel's completely innocent voice floated through the sudden silence and I froze in the doorway.

_Shiznits, this can't end well._

* * *

**_Yeah, I know. Mini cliffy, I'm evil. JUST REVIEW ALREADY! I love you guys. Seriously, I'm on here almost every day (much to my grandmother's discontent) writing for you guys. So review to show me your love!!_**

**_And I'm out of school now for summer vacation, so the updates will come sooner. But enough rambling from me. REVIEW!!_**

**_Peace, love, and racing Cupid pigs,_**

**_Skittles31_**

**_Oh, and P.S., this is the second time that I posted this, so there are a few minor changes everywhere throughout. Just telling you so you don't think that you're going crazy when you see the chapter update again in your inbox._**


	19. Girl Talk Part Two: Candy IS a Weapon!

_**JELLO, PEOPLES OF THE EXTREMELY ADDICTIVE AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE CALLED THE COMPUTER/ LAPTOP!!**_

_**I'm so happy to have finally gotten this chapter posted. I mean seriously, for some reason, I couldn't start to type the next chapter without actually having posted this one—DON'T MAKE FUN OF ME! My mommy says I'm special. And, the results from the poll are in, but I'm not going to tell you who in the name of Seddie won. What are you, in a straitjacket? Read the story, and you'll be bound to figure it out yourselves. --Smiles deviously-- **_

_**But seriously, thanks to those wonderful people who polled in. I owe you several. Actually, on second thought, I owe you nothing because I will forget that I even told you this and wind up being sued, knowing me.**_

_**Disclaimer: A girl can still dream, right?**_

_**Lawyer dude who magically pops up next to me: No, you can't.**_

_**Skittles31: WHY NOT?! –summons Valerie, who starts juggling fireballs--**_

_**Lawyer dude, eyeing Val suspiciously: Ms. Skittles31, you lost the ability to dream of owning the Maximum Ride series after the last incident in December. Your mind is a dark and very scary place.**_

_**Skittles31: -- glares at floor menacingly. Carpet shudders in fear-- Shoes.**_

_**Lawyer dude: Ahem? –taps foot impatiently-**_

_**Skittles31: FINE, YOU LOSER! –lawyer dude runs out crying—I don't own Carrie Underwood, the Energizer Bunny, Pirates of the Caribbean, Carlos Santana's "Into the Night" -- Hello? Hence the entire putting "CARLOS SANTANA" in front of the song title in the possessive form. Yeesh.--or the "Nerds" candy either. Although I really wish that I did. **_

_**And now, ON WITH THE STORY!! **_

* * *

I was in some deep shrimp here.

Angel had just asked me the most personal question anyone has ever asked me before –besides "Are you pmsing?"—and if I didn't answer, they would think that I was in love with Demon. _Someone up there really hates me._

I considered making a run for it, but then I knew that I'd probably be dragged back kicking and screaming if I even took one step out the door. Not to mention there was a devious ten year old in the room who could read and control minds. _Yep. Someone up there __**really **__hates me._

For once in my life, I chose the truthful route. "I…never… thought about it?" I said, though it came out as more of a question.

Immediately Nudge pounced like the evil sister that she is. "Yeah, she never thought about it since she already knew that she had her version of "the perfect guy" right beside her as her best friend who she developed a small crush on as she grew up—"

"GAH, NUDGE! THAT'S NOT IT!" I screamed, and immediately she shut up, a smug smile on her lips. I slid down the wall, closing the door at the same time, my head in my hands. "I really just _never_ thought about it.

"I'm supposed to be the leader. I don't spend much time daydreaming. I was never normal, I was never the little girlie child who waited for her prince charming, or went through the overly hormonal stage where every boy had to be analyzed as whether or not to be "crush-worthy". I didn't have the time. I was more focused on running for my life, and making sure that everyone was okay and not falling from the sky." I whispered. I knew Max probably agreed with me, although she didn't really count since she was in love with Fang.

Everyone else absorbed this information and I waited for someone—most likely Nudge—to break the silence. Surprisingly, it stayed silent, as if everyone was waiting for someone to break the silence so that they wouldn't have to.

I sighed, blowing my bangs upward into the air and Angel smiled a little at the motion. I stood up again. "We're not continuing this conversation for all the boys to listen in on." I walked over to the window, opening it as wide as it would go, and jumped out. Snapping out my wings, I caught a wind current and flew upwards where no one with human eyesight could see me. Looking back, I saw Angel flying upwards beside Skye, who was behind Nudge, who was behind Hope. Max was freefalling from the window, and I was guessing that Mira was right behind her getting ready to jump. I shook my head. _What the heck am I thinking? Going along with this? I must be out of my mind. That or Nudge is really getting to me. Or Angel's controlling me into doing this._

I tried to turn back around, but something nudged me mentally and I kept moving forward. _Angel, I hate you so much right now._

All I got in response was a mental giggle coated in both innocence and evil.

About 10 minutes from the city, I started descending into the forest and I heard everyone follow suit. Folding my wings in, I stepped out of the way, and sure enough, Hope landed and Nudge landed – well, face planted is more like it—right where I had been standing three seconds before. Skye nearly crashed into her, instead flying over her head at the last minute, and then Angel just side swerved to avoid any bird piles. Max and Mira both saw the entire thing before they landed, and overshot us by a few feet to clear a landing spot for themselves, as well as to keep laughing in the air for a little bit longer.

"Okay, so continuing the conversation from earlier, when we last left off, Val was giving us the reason why she didn't currently have any perfect boy in mind. To paraphrase, she is the leader, and has never had time to just kick back and boy-hunt. So, we are going to give her the girl time that she readily deserves." Hope announced, taking this "problem" by the horns. _This is going to take a while._

"OKAY!" Nudge yelled. "Val, short or tall?"

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" I asked her. I'm pretty sure that for once, everything that I was feeling was splayed out across my face.

"We're mentally painting the picture of your perfect person!" Nudge said, well squealed—you know what? Any time that Nudge or Hope says something, just automatically assume that she squeals it, okay?--. I stared at her for a minute, blinked twice, and said, "Nudge, sometimes I really wonder what the hell you put in whatever you eat. Second, easy on the "P"s. And third, since I am apparently going nowhere, I would have to say tall."

And so began the Spanish Inquisition. **_(A.N. This next part is Nudge asking the questions and Valerie answering. They're going back and forth, and everyone else is just in the background, watching. The first line is Nudge's.)_**

"Skinny or fat?"

"Skinny."

"Muscular or wimpy?"

"Muscular, but not bulky."

"Winged or non-winged."

"Winged."

"Silent or talkative?"

"Umm… in the middle?"

"Vanilla or Chocolate?"

"Nudge? How does that have anything to do with boys?"

"I don't know! I'm just really in the mood for ice cream."

"Ugh. Cookies and Cream."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. It's vanilla and Oreos. What's not to love?"

"Huh. Mysterious or open?"

"Umm, see previous answer?"

"NO! THIS IS A DIFFERENT QUESTION!"

"FINE! Don't bite my head off, sheesh. Sort of mysterious."

"Short hair or long hair?"

"Really, Nudge? Really?"

"What? This comes into play when you're kissing him and running your hands through his hair!'

"NUDGE!! THERE ARE CHILDREN HERE!"

"Just the truth. And when she goes through puberty she'll have to figure it out eventually."

"Ugh. Stupid hormonally driven bird child. Longish hair, like shoulder length and falls over his eyes. Kinda rockstar style..."

"Angular face, or chubby?"

--Silence—"You are so strange."

"But you love me for it. Now ANGULAR OR CHUBBY?"

"Middle. Not boney, but not flabby either."

"Rebellious or rule follower?"

"Nudge? Think about that question, and then think about who you're asking that question. If I'm the one who breaks the rules into sixteen pieces and then throws them in a blender set to puree with some hot sauce, what makes you think I'd want a goody two shoes for a boyfriend?"

"See! Now you're getting into it."

"Mleh."

"Clean or messy?"

"Why?"

"Because when you eventually move in with him, marry him and have some kids—"

"NUDGE! AGAIN! CHILDREN!"

"—you're going to have to live in either filth or cleanliness."

"I'm not answering that question."

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm not."

"You know what? Fine. I'll just think that you're in love with De—"

"FINE! CLEAN!"

"I knew you'd see it my way."

"I would love to use some words on you right now, but Angel is in the proximity, so you are very lucky today."

"Lazy or energetic?"

"Once again, why?"

"When you're on your honeymoon, do you want to be lazing around doing absolutely nothing??"

"What honeymoon?!"

"Just answer the stupid question, Val!"

"Fine! Energetic, I guess."

"Bilingual or monolingual?"

"Why would whatever guy I choose to date ever have to be tested in that category?"

"Because then, when he whispers sweet nothings into your ear as you sit in his lap with his arms around you in front of the fireplace in full "cuddling mode", he can have some variety."

--15 second silence—"I really don't want to know what goes on inside your head."

"It's actually a wonderful place."

"Fireplace?!"

"It's a romantic setting! So sue me for being the dreamer!"

"So that's what sometimes goes on inside your head when you're silent in mid-flight," Angel said, having an epiphany at the same time as the rest of us.

"DON'T JUDGE ME!" Nudge yelled, as the rest of us shook our heads. "And Valerie, ANSWER THE QUESTION!"

"FINE, Ms. Bossy- Butt! Bilingual."

"Daredevil or Mr. Plays-it-safe?"

"Nudge, we went over this. Think of who I am before you ask these questions."

"But we don't know the real Valerie. The only Valerie that we know is the one that you choose to show us, and even then it's censored." Nudge said, her head dropping a little bit.

"So that's what this is all about? Me not opening up to you guys?"

"Well, there's that, and the fact that we are in desperate need of girl time within this dysfunctional family. But, in essence, yes. You never open up to any of us except, on occasion, Max or Demon. You're my sister, and I want it to feel like that." Nudge said, looking like someone had run over her puppy. _Jeez, Nudge, way to make me feel horrible about myself._

"Fine." I put my right hand over my heart and my left hand in the air. "I, Valerie with the many nicknames and the adopted last name Ride, do solemnly swear to open myself up more to people and not be so silent, secret and unemotional."

Hope cut in. "As long as we all shall live?"

"Yup."

"'Til death do us part?" Max said, chuckling slightly.

"Of course."

"For better or worse?" Angel said. "In sickness and in health? For rich or for poor?"

"Hopefully for better, we rarely ever get sick, and I'm really not sure where we stand financially since the credit cards have yet to expire, but yes to everything!"

"Fine then. We will honor your pledge, and cherish it, and remind you of it whenever you need to be reminded. We shall call it Rule #31, since 13 is an awesome number, and doing stuff backwards is even awesomer." Skye said, joining in on the fun.

"Sure, whatever. But that goes for all of us, not just me."

"Fine."

That night, I got surprisingly close to all the girls. We ended up discussing everything, from Nudge's apparent love for Iggy that we all saw – and she admitted that they had shared a few kisses. Of course, Max nearly had an aneurism, refusing to believe that Nudge was growing up.—to Hope's secret crush on Jinx – which I totally saw coming, and I knew that Jinx would be a very happy camper. And then, two hours and several laughing fits later, I had to ask: "Can we go raid some mini-mart somewhere for some candy?"

The response was immediate as everyone jumped up—I was so thankful that I'd snagged the credit card before we left the hideaway—and started flying towards the city again. We landed in an alleyway, and then assembled in a straight line in front of a Wal-Mart, looking very much like "Charlie's Angels", or something of the sort.

"Y'all ready for this?" I asked, a smirk making its way onto my face once again.

"You bet," Angel said, and with that, we all made our way towards the store, knowing for a fact that this was going to be one heck of a night.

* * *

_**--One Hour Later--**_

"AIIEEEEEE!!" I heard Max scream in the aisle next to me, probably still in the shopping cart being pushed by Mira. I didn't bother to mentally try and figure it out, seeing as I was in the middle of hula- hooping and playing kickball at the same time, which takes loads of skill.

Don't ask how it's done.

Next thing I knew, I was nearly knocked over by the cart as Mira swerved down the aisle, beckoning me to get in. Max pulled me in to sit next to her, and we both let out loud laughter as we raced down the candy aisle. Tearing the bag of Twizzlers open, Max and I feasted, simultaneously feeding Mira, who was serving as our jet engine. I was practically bouncing out of the cart by the time that we reached the cash register. The girl took one look at us, shook her head, and smiled. "Girl's Night Out?"

Hope, magically appearing next to the cart, squealed/said, "HELLZ YEAH!"

The cashier laughed at her, and said, "Have a nice night." Mira was ready to roll us out of the store, but two things happened at the same time.

One: Nudge, Angel, and Skye appeared from Aisle 7, running for their life with employees form the shop right behind them. When they saw us, both the employees and our girls started running even faster.

Two: The cashier told us that we had to give up the cart, and it couldn't leave the parking lot.

_Damn it! Didn't think of that._

"QUICK! EVERYONE! GRAB SOME CANDY AND RUN!!!" I yelled, clambering out of the shopping cart and pulling as much candy from the cart as I could at one time. Max followed suit, and then, arms full of sugary goodness, we ran out of the store, laughing to the sky. The sun was setting.

Sitting on the rooftop of a random building, we decided to play truth or dare. Well, actually, it was more like Angel forced us all to play using her super- evil mind control power thingamajig.

"Ok, truth or dare, Val?" Angel asked me.

Striking a random superhero pose, I said to her, "Dare."

She smirked. _Crap this isn't good. _"I dare you to go to that costume store across the street and ask for a girl pirate costume in your size. Then wear it for the rest of today and tomorrow." _Evil little midget. __**(A.N. I'm so sorry, I really wanted to be evil and force her to wear the Energizer Bunny costume, seeing as it came in first, but I thought about it—and then Valerie mentally beat me up—and decided to be a little nicer. For both my sake and the sake of Valerie, who is glaring at me as I write this author's note. And yes, my characters are so real to me that they come to life. Don't judge me. I know gelatin.)**_

"HEY! I WANT TO WEAR A PIRATE COSTUME TODAY AND TOMORROW TOO!" Skye, who was very much sugar- drunk, said, pouting at Angel. That started an entire revolution and pretty soon we were all walking into the costume store, asking for some kind of costume. Luckily, it was April, so there was not much demand for costumes, and everyone got their own.

Pretty soon, we were walking out, looking like complete idiots in the middle of April. Skye and I did end up getting the pirate outfits. Hers was a red-and-white striped shirt with a black sparkly miniskirt that went to a few inches above her knee and some black knee-high stilettos. On her head was the signature big black hat with the skull and crossed bones on it. Tucked into a loop on her miniskirt was a fake silver cutlass which was bobbing up and down as she was skipping down the road. Don't ask me how she did it in those heels; they were 2 and a half inches high.

I, on the other hand, was wearing a white cotton peasant blouse with long, somewhat puffy sleeves and a black leather corset over it. I had the red bandana tied on my head, and a red sash that looked like a tilted, frayed skirt tied diagonally around my waist, over black leather capris. I was wearing black knee-high stilettos as well, except mine were only one inch high, along with a black pistol tucked away into my sash/ belt.

Of course Angel, who was now dressed up to look like the pink Energizer Bunny, with the big drum in front of her and everything, freaked out when she saw our outfits. _**(A.N. Angel, on the other hand, I have no problem being extremely cruel to and putting in bunny wear. In fact, to her, this is a reward.)**_ "YOU NEED MAKE-UP!"

20 minutes, and one near mental breakdown later, she had managed to make Skye and I look really good. She put what I _think_ was called mascara on me, and then some eye shadow, and then some lip gloss. I think the sugar – a majority of which we still had—was messing with my brain, because I didn't even remove the make up. In fact, I flaunted it proudly. _Yup. Something is definitely wrong with me._

Angel pulled the camera from her pocket, and snapped a few pictures of us, posing us and everything. I couldn't stop laughing, though I'm sure that was a side effect from the candy/sugar high I was on at the moment.

Max was dressed like a cowgirl. She had the plaid cotton shirt tied at her midriff, but not enough to show her wings, and she also had on a cropped blue jeans jacket. She had the dark blue low rise jeans and was wearing the infamous cowgirl boots with the one inch heelish thing. She also had on the cowgirl hat, and I was just dying because she was twirling around on the sidewalk, acting nothing like the Max that I knew. _That candy is a dangerous weapon._

Nudge was dressed up like a soldier: she still had on her purple Converse, but now she was wearing baggy green camouflage capris and a green tank top with a dark green army jacket with 4 stars on it over the tank top. She was wearing a bulky green camouflage helmet with some larger than normal goggles over the helmet. Of course, Angel had gone a little whack-job with the make-up again, so half of Nudge's face was covered in green paint-looking stuff.

Mira resembled Pocahontas, with her russet colored, sort of scissor- cut dress which she was wearing proudly. It looked basically exactly like it had in the movie – and the only reason that I knew that was because Kami had forced me to watch the movie five times in a row with her yesterday—and Mira was flaunting it like no tomorrow, skipping around the sidewalks, even wearing the headdress with her two little feathers on the back. She had on some completely flat boots that went to her knees with pom-poms hanging off the laces which crossed at the top. Angel had also given her some wild eye make-up and had pulled her hair into a bun, keeping it there with some hairpins.

Hope looked the part of a salsa dancer, and she had gone all out for it, too. She was wearing a deep red frilly dress with a scissor hem at the bottom and one armless sleeve, with two and a half inch character heels. She had her hair in a bun, and attached to the pin holding the bun together was a fully-in-bloom red rose. Angel had done the "smoky eyes" on her, the same that she had done with Skye and I, and some bright red lipstick.

I can honestly say that we must have looked like some missing part of the circus. We paid no mind to everyone who stopped and stared. In fact, Mira and I were running up to anyone that we could get to, getting in their face and squealing, "HI!" Then we'd down another mouthful of Nerds and run off to our next unsuspecting victims.

Max had to round us back up though when we ended up getting nearly dragged off cavemen style by two bozos that stopped us on the street. I was prepared to draw my pistol, too, but then it hit me that it was a fake pistol, and had no bullets, and thus could not really do anything… except _maybe_ serve as a club or one- way boomerang.

We ended up going back to the forest, some of our crazy gypsy troop taking off their shoes to actually be able to walk. I ended up lugging the bag that we had bought to put our clothes in, realizing that it was really bothersome and wondering why the fudge I had to be the one to carry it.

Eventually, we all got settled in a really large oak tree with a ton of branches. (We ended up forcing our two dress- wearers to go last, not wanting to be the one to be flashed.) We still had at least 6 bags of assorted candy left, and I had a box of Nerds still tucked away into my pocket. Max was munching on some Sour Patch Kids, and every few seconds I would hold my hand up (she was in the branch above me) for more. She would mutter, "Greedy mooch," but give me more anyway.

"This is nice," Angel said, snapping another picture of Skye, who I had resorted to calling Elizabeth, after the "Pirates of the Caribbean" character. She, in return, called me Sparrow, after Jack Sparrow.

"What is?" I asked, leaning my back against the bark of the tree. Angel, after repositioning me so that I was staring out into the distance, hugging one knee to my chest and swinging one leg back and forth in the air, snapped a photo of me before she answered.

"Just relaxing like this. I feel… normal," she said, throwing me the camera, since I wanted to take a picture of her.

"I feel like a normal teenage girl, just goofing off with her friends on another Friday night," Nudge said, munching on some M&Ms on the branch opposite me.

"Sparrow, Rule 31," Skye said, waiting for my input on it.

I smiled, remembering earlier. "It is nice. It feels like there's no pressure on us, and I can just chill here with my bestestest buddies and not have to worry about anything."

Mira literally dropped in from the branch above Angel, swinging upside down, but thankfully not flashing anyone any images we didn't want to see. "Guys? Do you think that if we weren't… _us _we would still be friends?"

"Explain." Max said, finally joining the conversation.

"If we didn't have our DNA genetically enhanced-- no wings, no special weird powers, no anything out of the ordinary—and we were all dropped in the same school with no knowledge of who anyone else was, do you think we would all be friends?" Mira asked.

Everyone grew silent, and then Hope broke the silence. "I think that Sparrow and Max would probably still be friends. They're both too rebellious to not be related, either through adoption or just being best friends who are joined at the hip."

"Maria Maria over there and American Soldier Mulan could pass as sisters. I think they would probably be best friends," I said, and Max's foot nudged me. Obviously she remembered our little observation from weeks ago when everyone was just getting to know each other.

"Pinkie could be Carrie Underwood's adopted sister!" Nudge said. I laughed at her impromptu nicknames for Angel and Max.

"Liz and Sparrow would probably be best friends; Liz could calm Sparrow down when she got into some arguments and make sure she didn't get into too much trouble. And Sparrow could help get Liz to be more outspoken and eccentric, like she is. They'd balance each other out."

"And I think that the Pirate Ladies of the Caribbean could easily befriend Pocahontas. Pocahontas and Sparrow are pretty close in personality," Pinkie said.

"So there you have it. We would all be friends, still. I think it's fate," Liz said. I raised my soon- to- be- empty box of Nerds in the air. "TO LASTING FRIENDSHIPS, NO MATTER WHAT UNIVERSE WE'RE IN!" I said, looking at everyone.

Smiling, we all yelled, "CHEERS!" and downed a gulp of whatever candy we were eating. After Carrie fell out of the tree, Pocahontas nearly had an accident from laughing too hard, and we all were successfully chock full of candy, we got cold and I lit up a small fire on the forest floor. Liz started to dance around the fire, dragging me up with her. Soon, Pinkie was belting out Carlos Santana's "Into the Night" at the top of her lungs, watching us all make complete fools of ourselves as we jumped around the fire, our version of dancing. Eventually, we all fell down, just unable to walk anymore having finally had a complete sugar crash. I snuggled into Pocahontas' stomach, adding to the weight of people on top of Pinkie, who was actually really comfortable to those of us using her as a pillow. And with a final glance at the fire, and Pinkie's warning of "You all had better not mess up your makeup in your sleep", we all fell asleep, the sun coming up on the horizon.

* * *

_**And there you have it. Valerie and Max survived the girl talk, with just a few… surprises. Don't you just love them and their tomboyish ways? I think everyone who reviews should thank Mira for having hooked up with Shawn, hence initiating the girl talk…**_

_**Or maybe we should thank Shawn for being born so the Institute would experiment on him and he would meet Mira…**_

_**Or maybe we should thank whoever impregnated Mira and Shawn's mothers, hence creating the little peoples…**_

_**Anyway, whoever you chose to thank, just thank them and don't tell me who you decided to thank. Because I'm giving myself a headache.**_

_**Up next chapter: "The Next Day". DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNN!!!**_

_**Peace, love, and "The fear of Santa Claus?! It exists?! YOU EVIL PEOPLE! HOW COULD YOU CREATE SUCH A THING?!?!" "Zee, calm down. Here, have Jacob. Rock slowly back and forth.",**_

_**Skittles31**_

_**P.S. Yes, that was another random conversation with my friend Daisy and me. I have the tape. **_


	20. Hmm Not the reaction I was going for

**_JELLO!! And now that my always happy greeting is done with, I'll get to the real reason of this beginning author's note thing._**

**_I'M_****__****__****__****__****__****__****__****__****__****__****__****__****__****__****__****_ SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY!_**

**_As you can see, I'm extremely sorry that I haven't updated in more than a month. I was at camp and then when I got home I was always really tired and then I almost forgot the way that I wanted the storyline to go and then I was always being forced off the computer when my mom and aunt came home and yeah..._**

**_So, skipping all the awkward excuses on my part, I have made this chapter a lot longer than usual, with Max's point of view and Valerie's point of view as well, just for you guys. That is how much I love you guys._**

**_Anyways, I have a feeling that some of you didn't read the last chapter which had part two of the girl talk that was awkward on almost all parts. I had taken down the "Poll" chapter and reposted a different one. So be sure to go back and read that one before you read this chapter. Otherwise you'll miss a lot._**

**_Now for the continuous ripping apart of my soul:_**

**_Disclaimer: Really? You're going to force me to say it? Fine! I'M STILL NOT JAMES PATTERSON AND I STILL DON'T OWN MAXIMUM RIDE!! But once my wonderful plan is put into action... Oh, you all will be sorry that you locked me up and got those big mean men in white to force me to hug myself!_**

**_And now, ON WITH THE STORY!!!... man it feels good to say that after a month!_**

* * *

"Ugh." _**What the heck ran me over?**_

I sat up, throwing my hands over my face, trying to block the light from getting to my eyes. My head was pounding, and I was extremely dizzy.

I heard another groan from below me—_**Was I sleeping on somebody's face?**_—and I rolled over…

…Only to fall off of the branch that I was apparently sleeping on and land on Angel and Mira.

"AAH!" Mira screamed, and both immediately jumped into a fighting position. I felt a small swell of pride that was quickly overcome by guilt that Angel had been brought up to be ruthless and always on guard, instead of having a normal childhood like any other ten-year-old twin girl.

I held my pounding head in one hand, wanting to know what the heck was going on. "Someone, please explain why I'm currently in the woods right now as opposed to the hideaway."

"Umm," Angel started, her blue eyes turning glassy as she avoided my gaze, "weeeeeeeeelllllll…"

"Angel." I didn't want the long drawn-out version.

"Wehadareallybigsleepoverslashgirlsnightoutthingandsomewhereinthemiddleoftheentireth--"

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHH! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY CLOTHES?!" Nudge screamed, interrupting Angel's not-so-understandable explanation. Holding my head—which, by the way, was still being inhabited by some very angry sledgehammers—I turned to look at her…

…And then burst into laughter induced tears at the sight of whatever the hell she was wearing.

Nudge looked like some sort of American soldier from the army. She was decked out in complete green camouflage and I couldn't even see half of the skin on her face since it was completely painted green. She still had on her purple converse, but other than that, everything was different. She even had on this bulky dark green helmet with HUGE goggles over them. She looked hysterical.

Nudge wasn't taking it as well as I was though, our little fashionista. "WHAT ARE ALL OF YOU LAUGHING AT?! HAVE YOU EVEN LOOKED AT YOURSELVES YET?!" She screamed at us all, and at the same time we all looked down, still chuckling.

In the next moment, it became completely silent. Then, all of us-- excluding Angel, who I was still waiting for an explanation from—started to freak out, though not always similarly to Nudge's… well, there are no other words for it, explosion.

I looked like a cowgirl back on some ranch in Texas, or something. I even had the hat—well, not so much anymore, since it had apparently fallen off my head when I fell out of the tree. Mira went the more Disney route, looking like some winged version of Pocahontas.

Don't ask me why I know who that is.

Angel was dressed as the Energizer bunny from the battery commercial—_**How did I not see that before?**_ Hope was—_**What the hedgehog?!**_—dressed like some sort of salsa dancer from Latin America. Complete with high heels and the fully- bloomed rose in her hair. Val was—where was she?

"Umm, guys? Where's Valerie? And Angel, I would really and truly like an explanation as to why the heck we all look like some runaway circus troupe!"

Immediately, everyone stopped worrying about what they were worrying about, and started looking for her. "VAL?!? WHERE ARE YOU?!!"

"Umm, up here." I heard a voice call from above us all,--_**Ugh. I'm rhyming. It's early.**_-- and we all looked up to see Valerie half tangled in a tree branch. From what I could see, she was looking kind of like some old-fashioned pirate. She didn't look like Skye, though, who was resembling a more girlish pirate, with her miniskirt and skin-tight top approach.

"Valerie, why are you hugging a tree branch?" I had to ask as she looked down at us rather sheepishly.

"Umm, I'm sort of stuck," She called down to us, and then Angel, who was apparently reading her thoughts, started to crack up. "SHUT UP, PINKIE!" Val shouted down, and then Nudge started to laugh a little about Angel's new nickname.

I shook my head from side to side, wondering how the _heck_ my family was so dysfunctional, and started to climb the tree to where Valerie was currently tangled. When I reached her level, she said, "So, how's it going, Carrie Underwood?"

I rolled my eyes. "Say another smart-butt comment like that, and I'm not getting you out of here." Of course she shut up.

About 2 minutes later, we were trying to get the stupid leaves out of Val's hair, since that tree branch was evil reincarnated. "How the hell did you even get up here?" I asked her, and Val looked away, looking embarrassed.

"I woke up before everyone else and then tried to get some food for us all. I had a huge cramp in my wing, and then next thing I know I'm wrestling with a very angry tree." She whispered, and I couldn't help it; I started cracking up.

Jumping back down from branch to branch to get to the forest floor, Val gathered herself, avoided any eye contact, and muttered to herself something about a "useless bunch of feathers" and "evil hell-sent tree branches".

Then she eyed Nudge and said, "So, how's it going, sergeant?"

Before Nudge could attack my other sister—who apparently had some sort of death wish—I had to ask. "Umm, Val, do you know what the heck happened last night?"

She nodded, staring off past all of us. "You all decided to have "Girl Talk Night" last night, and I was dragged into the entire thing against my will. That quickly took a turn for the worst as we decided to have "Girl's Night Out". Somewhere along the way we bombarded a mini-mart, got sugar-drunk, and played truth or dare, which is how we got into these ridiculous costumes."

_**That would explain a lot, including my pounding headache.**_

Suddenly turning to Nudge, Val said, "Girl, your hair looks like you attacked it with a weed whacker."

_**Really? You tell the preppy fashionista that? Damn it, Valerie, I don't want to have to clean up any blood today!**_

Luckily, Valerie is suave when she wants to be. "Want me to redo it for you? I know how you can get it to not be completely annoying."

Nudge dropped the angry front and went over to sit in front of Val. As Val started working on the giant evil puff-cake that is Nudge's hair, something hit me. "Val, are you stalling so that we don't have to go back to the house soon?"

She didn't answer, but that was enough for me. Skye wasn't too happy though. "BUT I'M HUNGRY!"

"OW! Jeebuz, Skye, my ears!" I screeched, clamping my hands over my ears again. She shot me a sheepish look, but turned back to Val, saying, "I'm still hungry."

Val looked at her and said, "Well, we could try to sneak back into the apartment and not let anyone see us, then change our clothes, eat and avoid all Spanish Inquisition…"

We all stared at her. "You are a genius," Pocah—_Mira _said, and everyone sat down, waiting for Val to finish with Nudge's hair so that we could all get out of our ridiculous clothing.

After about 45 minutes, Val had finally finished with Nudge's hair, which was now braided into corn rows. Nudge couldn't stop smiling, and then Valerie rolled her eyes when Nudge started going off about how she felt "so pretty" and she hoped one of the boys noticed her new hair- do. Everyone rolled their eyes, since we all knew that she was talking particularly about Iggy.

About 20 minutes later, we were all standing on top of the building, trying to figure out a way to not get anyone to notice our secret arrival. And then, the idea hit me.

"Angel, you're going to be our distraction." Val said, at the exact same time that I did.

Either way, everyone was surprised. The one being most surprised being Angel, though. "Wait, what? Why?"

Val kneeled down in front of her, taking her by the shoulders. "Angel. Baby girl. Sweetheart. It will look incredibly weird and strange and "WTH"-ish to send one of the rest of us in there as a distraction. Babe, you're small, the youngest, and adorable. No one will question why you're wearing an Energizer Bunny costume, unlike the rest of us. Now go, little bunny! Run inside, and lure the people away!" Val said, pushing Angel in the direction of the door. With one final stare at Valerie, Angel went down the stairs.

Leaving the rest of us to stare at Valerie like she had three heads, a chicken foot growing out of her ear, and had revealed that she was Superman in disguise. _**Which totally makes no sense due to the fact that Fnick is Superman…**_, I thought, smiling to myself.

Valerie cleared her throat, giving me this under-the-eye look that practically shouted "Yep. Sure. I totally believe you" at me, and I was left to wonder what the heck she meant by that. _**I swear, she's trying to get me to go clinically insane.**_

2 minutes later, we all heard the giant roar of "ANGEL!" go through the house, and I knew that was our cue. Skye flew down to below the window ledge, and when she whispered back up that there was no one there, we all clambered through the window. Honestly, it was pretty depressing that we all had done this so many times before, but this time we sounded like a herd of elephants instead of silent mice.

And then came the giant scream, and then we heard the stampeding feet run back and try to get to the door. "CHEEZITS!! RETREAT!!" Nudge yelled, --_**My thoughts exactly**_--and we all tried to stuff ourselves back through the window.

Val was out first-- **_Stupid amazingly graceful sister..._**--, and then she had to try and pull the rest of us from the window. I heard the door open, and then suddenly I was free, and freefalling down the side of the building.

"MAX! VAL! GET BACK HERE!!" I heard Demon yell, and then looking up, I saw him preparing to freefall from the windowsill.

"RUN, MAX, RUN! I MEAN FLY!!" Val yelled, and we went soaring into the air, trying to get back into the higher altitude where we had clouds to protect us from angry bird-boys. And then suddenly, I had an epiphany. "VAL!"

She turned to look at me. I continued, my smile growing bigger by the second. "We had a large bag filled with clothes last night from when we changed. It's probably still somewhere in the forest."

Val stared at me for a few moments, then swooped over and hugged me. While heading toward the ground, she said, "You are officially forgiven for the Fang thing."

Then we both looked back and saw that Fang and Demon were flying behind us. "Oh cheese balls," Val said, and then we surged forward even faster, angling downward to get to the forest we were finally over.

"SWERVE!" Val yelled, as we flew through the tree branches, and I learned that I was not as coordinated as Valerie seemed to be, since she was only getting scratched a few times while I was being full-on clawed at by the trees.

Eventually, we both closed our wings, and dropped to the floor, trying to find where the heck our stuff was. I couldn't hear Fang or Demon's voices behind us anymore, and that was pretty unnerving in itself. I tried to distract myself by focusing all my thoughts on finding the book bag, and it worked for a short time.

Finally Val said, "Does any of this look familiar to you?"

I shook my head. "Honestly, all of these trees look almost the same."

Val leant against a tree trunk. And then she started climbing up the tree. "What the hell are you doing?" I yelled up.

She smiled back down at me, not giving an answer, and jumped to the next tree branch. After getting across four trees, she yelled back, "I AM A NINJA PIRATE!!"

My eyes widened. _**It's the after- effects of the candy. Oh cheese.**_

And then something crunched behind me, and I ran, scampering up the same tree Val had. Balancing on the branch, I muttered to myself, "This won't end well." Then I launched myself off in the same way that Valerie had gone.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" I heard Valerie mimic Tarzan somewhere way in front of me, and I searched for some sign of her ahead of me. I laughed for some unknown reason, and surged forward.

I found Val seated on a branch, staring out at some little clearing. I sat down beside her. "Sparrow? What the heck are we going to tell them?"

A voice spoke from behind us. "Yes. What are you going to tell us?"

Spinning around, we both turned to face Fang and Demon.

_Joy. Joy and prepaid French fries,_ Val deadpanned in my head.

We all stared at each other for a few seconds, then Val started to giggle. Everyone's eyes snapped to her, and Demon looked like he was getting ready to have her committed to an asylum.

She started laughing, and then she was shaking so hard that tears were streaking down her face. She fell backwards off the branch, and Demon dived after her.

* * *

_**--Val POV—**_

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" I was still laughing as I fell backwards off the tree branch, and I had a feeling that I was only partially insane at the moment. He didn't have to worry that much.

About 5 feet from the ground, I was in his arms bridal style, and we landed safe and sound. I was just giggling now, my sides still aching way too much to move. Fang and Max landed side by side silently in front of us, approaching us cautiously.

"Sparrow?" Max sounded out, approaching slowly. I saw Fang give her a "WTH" glance out of the corner of his eye.

Finally the urge to pee my pants left me, and I rolled out of Demon's arms. "Carrie, you can't honestly look at this situation and tell me that it isn't the slightest bit funny to you." Then I half collapsed back into Demon's arms. "My legs feel like jell-o. I wiggle and I jiggle and I wiggle and I jiggle. It's a wiggling, jiggling spree." I said/ sang to myself.

Everyone was staring at me like I was high or something. Finally, Carrie spoke up. "What are you talking about?"

…At least, that's what I think she said. "SQUIRREL! Carrie, there's a squirrel behind you. And Fang's wearing only his black checkered boxers. And Demon's hair looks like a haystack. And I'm dressed like some sort of thing straight out of "Pirates of the Caribbean". And, Carrie, you look like something straight out of some old folk song video. NO!!! COME BACK, MR. SQUIRREL!!!"

They all started looking around at each other, and I started to giggle again. Then Demon started to count off backwards, sounding reeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaally tired. "In three, two, one…"

And then everything went black. _Who turned off the lights?_

* * *

_**--Max POV—**_

"Max, explain. Now." Fang was still trying to sort out the pieces of this puzzle. Especially since his almost- sister was acting as if she was high off laughing gas.

"It's a really, _really_ long story," I said, turning around and getting ready to start walking somewhere in the direction of the city again.

Val started mumbling something about Nudge stealing her purple chicken wing, and we walked on.

"Max." Fang said in the tone of voice that I remembered from the night of "The Kiss: Part… Lost Count" .

"We decided to have some strange bird-kid's rendition of "Girl's Night Out" last night. Somewhere along the road, we ended up raiding a mini-mart, getting high off of candy, playing truth or dare,—resulting in the costumes—and Sparrow and Pocahontas nearly got abducted by two drunk men." _**I really need to find some way to counter attack that tone of voice that he uses, otherwise my pride is going to **__**continue **__**to plummet into the toilet.**_

"Sparrow and Pocahontas?" Fang said, while Val started sleep-talking about Chuchi the magical donut monkey and how he and Angel were going to team up and build an army.

"Didn't you see what we all looked like this morning? Val and Skye are matching "Pirate Ladies of the Caribbean", as we dubbed them last night, Nudge is American Soldier Mulan, I'm apparently Carrie Underwood, Angel is Pinkie the Energizer Bunny, Hope is Maria Maria, and Mira is Pocahontas."

Fang stared, and then his lips pulled up at the corners by about half a centimeter—Fang's version of unrestrained laughter.

I glared at him. "Shut up, Fang. Just shut up." A chuckle worked up from the back of his throat, and I couldn't help but reach over and smack him.

Demon, walking behind us with a dead-weight Val in his arms, started to laugh too. _**I swear, I can't stand these two brothers most of the time.**_

Then Val said loud enough for the rest of us to hear her without any problems: "Fang, Max, stop flirting and beat back the potpourri, damn it! Before the beavers get the gelatin!!"

The boys stopped laughing, and Demon muttered, "Awkward…."

My pounding headache coming back full force, I said, "When she wakes up, I'm going to shoot her between the eyes."

Funnily enough, right after Val had effectively thrown a wrench into the situation, making it sufficiently awkward, she fell fully asleep, snuggling closer to Demon. I smirked. "Of course you don't, V."

"Of course she doesn't what?" Fang asked. I looked him deep in his obsidian eyes, and then smiled.

"FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELF!!" I yelled, some of the candy's effects from last night coming back, and apparently my sugar high returning was the magical aspirin for my headache. I climbed up the nearest tree and started running… well, leaping away.

"WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" I yelled, and then eventually spread my wings and flew back to the hideaway.

Soaring in through the window, I walked straight over to my clothes—instantly gaining a "We need to go shopping" remark from Angel—and went straight to the bathroom to change.

And get some Advil.

About twenty minutes later, with me in regular clothes again, Fang and Demon flew back through the window, Demon with Valerie in his arms still. I shot Nudge a look and she smirked, obviously remembering what had started this entire thing in the first place. _**Nudge is devious when she wants to be.**_

I could have sworn I heard the Voice sigh inside my head, and it reminded me that it hadn't really spoken since Val gained her new ability. I briefly wondered what it had to say about our little episode last night, but then reminded myself that a normal bird person should not have to ever think or wonder that in his/her lifetime.

Fang gave me a look that clearly said that I was going to be in some deep doggy poo for not answering his last question, and I couldn't help the small dropping of the f-bomb in my head, though I remembered to block my head from Angel.

"Would anyone like to explain why we couldn't find any of you this morning, and then Angel magically appears in an Energizer Bunny costume, and then we find the rest of you all stuffed through the window in many different strange costumes that I _know_ we never bought, and then Max flies back through the window with some strange glint in her eyes, and then Fang and Demon come back with an unconscious Valerie? Because I would really like to know," Iggy said, staring each one of us in the eye.

And that was the wonderful moment our Sparrow chose to wake up. Her first words? "Iggy, you're turning into Nudge. Shut up."

Apparently though, she was more awake than she had let on, since immediately, I heard mentally, _Don't tell them a thing, or I will burn all of you to pieces._

Judging from the sudden flinching on all girls' part, I would say that we all got the message. Val rolled out of Demon's arms, and went over to sit next to Nudge. After a few moments of silence, she said, "You know, I think I like this outfit. Nix the boots and fake pistol, anyway."

Iggy almost gave birth to a large animal. "Still waiting!"

Nudge rolled her eyes. "Oh calm down, Iggy. We're alive, aren't we?"

I couldn't help but stare at Nudge, wondering when the hell she got so suave and not… squealy. Last time that I heard she liked a boy, that little fact was all I could hear in my ear for about 3 days straight. And now, she's acting completely and totally suave and collected. I swear, she's taking lessons from Val or something.

Val snickered, and I couldn't help the frown that took over my face since I had no idea whether that snicker meant "Oh, Max, you're just overreacting," or "Max, you want lessons too?".

"Nudge." I swerved my head to look at him. He had used "The Voice". The Voice from Fang and my night on the beach. The Voice which _Iggy_ just used on _Nudge_.

_**Holy skippin' fried chicken. It **__**is**__** the bird genes. **_

Valerie interrupted Nudge and Iggy's little staring contest. I wanted to thank her, since they looked like they were going to jump each other's bones pretty soon. "Nudge, don't say a word."

Demon turned on her immediately, eyes blazing. "WHAT?!"

Val shrugged, getting up and grabbing her black Converse. _**I knew the boots wouldn't last. **_"We're not telling you. Our business, leave it alone. Not our fault you weren't there."

Demon nearly had an aneurism. "Valerie, you all left us sometime in the middle of the day without saying anything to us boys on where you were going. You expect us to take this calmly?"

Valerie shrugged. "Your fault anyway." _**And she's back to incomplete sentences as her answers.**_

**Pooh. I thought we had made some progress.** Angel added in my head, leaving as quickly as she came.

Valerie was getting ready to leave, saying something about wanting to raid the fridge. Suddenly Demon shot up and grabbed her forearm. "You _will_ tell me what happened."

_**Oh shit… Angel don't repeat that!**_

* * *

_**--Val POV—**_

_**(A.N. Because you can't have a chapter like this and not have her point of view…)**_

The room got dead silent, and it even seemed like everyone had stopped breathing. No one moved, well besides Skye, who was slowly inching her way toward the door.

I stared at Demon's arm gripping my forearm for a few seconds, and then looked into his emerald eyes. Well, what I could see of them, since ever since he had gotten taller than me I had a slight problem seeing his face from a level angle.

"What?" I was vaguely aware of Skye, who was actually out the door, with Blaze sniper crawling out behind her. Nudge and Iggy were getting ready to follow, and I saw Angel's shifty eyes from the corner of my eyes.

Something you might not have picked up on about me: I absolutely**_ hate_** it when someone tries to tell me what to do. Seriously, if anyone tries to order me around, they end up with some part of their anatomy missing.

If Demon kept going at it like this, he's become victim number one hundred and three.

Demon didn't back down, and I couldn't help the little voice inside my head that was saying "Well, what did you expect? He grew up with _you_, of course he's bound to be stubborn!"

"You will tell me what happened last night," He said, his voice dropping two octaves. His hand was slowly beginning to tighten on my arm, and emerald stones were slowly changing to jade.

And who says that bird kid poetry is dead?

Max and Fang were backing out of the room at an alarming pace, Angel and Gazzy having sniper crawled out of the room a few moments prior. Mira, Shawn and Hope were all heading in the other direction, toward the adjoined room, and Jinx had dove out the window a few seconds ago.

Leaving Demon and I still staring at each other. Well, no, that's a lie. Now, we were glaring at each other.

I twisted my arm out of Demon's grasp and stepped closer to him, jabbing my forefinger into his chest. "Listen, _Damien_, if I don't want to tell you, I'm not going to. So back off, and leave it alone."

Still not feeling fully satisfied, I went up on tip-toe and pushed my forefinger deeper into his chest, whispering into his ear, "Got it?"

In a movement too fast for me to see, I was up against the wall, my arms being held above my head by one of Demon's hands, and his other hand right beside my head, holding himself up.

Leaning in a little closer until he was a few inches from completely lying on top of me sideways, Demon's eyes bored into mine, daring me to say something. "Valerie, you really don't want to say something like that to me right now. Now shut it, and hope that I don't do anything to you in this position," he said, with his voice deep and gravelly as it practically purred into my ear.

As if he was challenging the large amount of self restraint that was keeping me from attacking him right now, he pressed himself even further into me, causing me to practically mold into the wall. I turned my head to the side, seeing Mira's head poke back through the door. _Probably making sure I'm not burying the body._ Her eyes widened when she saw the position we were in.

I felt the air slightly shift as Demon smirked. His lips were tickling my ear as he whispered, "Good girl."

Then he let me down off the wall and walked out of the room silently as I stared after his back. Twirling my wrists, I picked up my Converse and ripped off my evil boots. Staring at them for a few moments, I went over to the window and hurled them out. Watching them fall, halfway to the ground setting on fire, I muttered to myself, "Evil arsehole."

Slipping on my socks, I walked out of the room, Mira following behind me. I went straight to the kitchen, not even bothering to change out of the costume, besides taking the bandana off my head. _Besides, this outfit is actually pretty good-looking, and something like what I would wear normally. You know, if I wasn't on the run or anything._

Walking into the kitchen, I opened the fridge, grabbing an apple. When I turned around everyone was staring at me. I raised an eyebrow, taking a bite of the apple and crossing my arms, glancing at each of them.

"He's not dead, right?" Jinx asked fearfully. However, just as I was about to answer with some of my wonderful sarcasm, Demon –of course, with his wonderful timing—walked in.

His eyes finding and fixating themselves on mine, he had the _nerve_ to smirk at me and start walking over. I bit into the apple again, holding it in front of my face. _Just __**let**__ him try something and he's going to be missing some part of his anatomy._

Demon kept walking over, eventually stopping once he had fully backed me into the counter I had previously been leaning on. For the second time in about 5 minutes, I was being made into some sort of Val sandwich by Demon.

His arms boxed me in, making sure I couldn't escape. His face got closer, only stopping since apparently the apple was in the way. We stood like that, looking each other in the eye—once again. Sigh. My life is becoming somewhat predictable…-- and everyone else was staring at the two of us.

Abruptly, Demon took a bite of my apple, successfully brushing his lips against my hand at the same time. Something jolted in my stomach, but I think it was just my stomach growling.

Taking a peek into his mind, I found that Demon had apparently been plotting to steal my apple. Chuckling, I took a deliberate bite out of it and lowered it down. Going up on tip toe, I whispered in his ear again. "_Not_ going for two out of three."

Chuckling, I ducked under Demon's arm and walked out of the room, leaving Demon still standing there with a smirk on his face and everyone else looking between the two of us like we were replaced with clones. _You can totally tell that it's still morning._

* * *

**_Soo, how'd I make up for my long term absence? I was tempted to end it somewhere halfway through the length of the entire chapter, but then this idea hit me-- along with the actual last update's date. I got the idea for Val and Demon's little flirtastic showdown and just couldn't turn it down. I had to practically fan myself because I kept seeing these green eyes every time I closed my eyes. _**

**_But did you guys like the entire idea? That's what really matters to me. HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT! LEAVE A REVIEW TO SAY THAT YOU DID!!_**

**_Peace, love, and "EAT MY SPIT!... AND LIKE IT!!!",_**

**_Skittles31_**


	21. SMIRKS! Enter Stage Left

_**WHAT'S UP, PEOPLES OF THE UNIVERSE?!**_

**_Skittles31, here, as you all probably know. I mean, I would hope that you all know. I've been the one writing this story for the longest time. Meaning since the beginning of this story. So, yeah._**

**_I would like to take this time to do two things._**

**_ONE!!: I'm dedicating this chapter to forevertwilightluver. I hope that you're satisfied with this chapter._**

**_TWO!!: I would like to take this moment to thank every single person that has every reviewed this story. So that would be, in order from the first person to review to the latest:_**

_**goldenrose37, Someone aka Me, maxride333, Is it really necessary?, tastes-like-crayons, becoming darkness, twilight-h.p.-maxride4ever, klutzyspaz, Rainie16, Skips with muffins, fed x, .'-Cute Prison Break-'., EdwardCullenIsCoolerThanYou, girlytown, MaxCullen21, XXNumbXX, dusk3ttex01, NITESIDE IS DA BOMB, Keystar34, X-RayDog, LeapforLove, xMysticxRainx, Jacob Black Ooft. . .Phitt, IchigoRenji, Mackiwaki, Evilhunterperson, orangeduck23, awesomnessness, FAXfan, sanctuary-in-dreams, chechuu-cullen, yesisalas, alison94, TwyRyse56, )( *wings*)(, Kelsey Goode, Flame Ride, twentytawnytigers, TwilightGirl100195, KestrelWings, LovelyNBlue, heaven collins, crazywing18, SkittlesForTheWorld, MyDarkHeart, paramorechick04, maximumride1219, IceCweamWuver, Princess GreenFire, world domination freak, ILoveReadingAndWriting, DisturbebMisunderstudHauntedMe, Domination-List, forevertwilightluver, and books r a gurls bestfriend.**_

_**There is also another person--well actually people that reviews, but for some reason, whenever I write their author name, the computer spazzes and doesn't let me type their name. So, to the author "R"h."J"e --nix the quotation marks around the r and the j--, you get a special paragraph dedicated to you.**_

**_And now, this chapter is what I would like to say is a bit of a turning point. Read it and you'll figure it out._**

**_Disclaimer: There are many things that I don't own. Suffice it to say that Maximum Ride doesn't exactly fall out of that category. James Patterson will one day give me the right to the series though!! If I bug him enough. I also don't own The Host. That's Stephanie Meyer's barrel of monkeys. Sigh. Oh and I also don't own Twilight. I know, shock horror!!_**

**_Claimer: Touch Valerie, Demon, Mira, Skye, Blaze, Jinx, Hope, Gina, Exie, Gem, Mini, Niara, Ray, A.J., Collin, Drex, or Nate, and I will hunt you down like Mariah Carey. And do horrible things that involve a monkey, three porcupines and a Jack-O-Lantern, and could possibly leave you in a mental hospital for the rest of your life._**

**_And now, ON WITH THE STORY!!_**

* * *

_And here comes Mira._

"VALERIE!!" Mira yelled, and I smirked to myself as I heard her voice come from around the corner of the hallway. I took another bite of my apple, curled up on my bed with _**"The Host" ,**_ as per usual.

Bookmarking my page—since we all knew that when Mira decides that she wants to talk to you, she talks to you for a _while_—I looked up just as she stormed into the room.

I raised an eyebrow, signaling for her to start talking.

"What was that?!" she yelled, taking on a half-confused, half-crazed expression as she came and sat beside me on the bed.

The blank look in my eyes obviously told her something, because she kept going. "That… that _confrontation_! Between you and Demon!! _**Both of them!!**_"

_Dang it. I was hoping that would never reach the light of day ever again._

I rolled over onto my stomach and stretched out. "Meh, nothing." I said, and Mira nearly gave birth to a mad cow.

"HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY SAY THAT THAT WAS NOTHING?!" She screeched, and I had to cover my ears.

"Tone it down, Mirabella," I mumbled, and she shot me a look.

"I will _**not**_ tone it down, Valerie! I just saw my sister and her best friend—who you claimed to have no romantic feelings for _whatsoever_—in a very compromising position, what with you up against the wall both times!! And you both looked just about ready to jump each other!! Care to explain?!?!" She whisper-yell-questioned. _HAHA!! You did tone it down, and—WAIT, WHAT?!_

I wanted to smack something. Or, more preferably, someone. "We did not look ready to jump each other!! That's Nudge and Iggy's problem, not ours!"

Somehow, Mira was channeling my personality, because her face was completely blank while I went ballistic. Finally, when I finished ranting, she calmly said, "Val, look at what I saw, and tell me that you both didn't look ready to jump each other!!"

Then I was looking at Demon and my confrontation from her point of view, when she had poked her head back in the room to most likely see whether or not I had murdered D. _Holy corkscrew…_

"YOU PHOTOSHOPPED THAT IMAGE!!" I yelled, jumping up onto the bed, pointing at her from my new position.

"No, I didn't," she said calmly, obviously finding joy in my discomfort, judging from the smirk that was making its way across her face.

"YES YOU DID!! YOU'RE SMIRKING!! I SMIRK!! YOU'RE BEING AN EVIL VERSION OF ME!!" I yelled, still standing on the bed pointing at her.

Because there was no way that Demon had been just 3 inches away from me.

And there was no way that he had been looking down at me like he was a drunk guy in a strip club, and I was the stripper.

And there was no way our eyes were glazed over.

And there was no way he was leaning in closer.

And there was no way I was leaning into him.

And there was no way my eyes had been closing.

And there was no way I had shivered and _smiled _when he had basically demoted me by whispering "Good girl" in my ear.

And there—well, you get the idea. "MIRA, YOU LIE!!"

Mira shrugged. "I don't lie. I'm simply telling you what I saw."

"NO, YOU LIAR!! LIIIIEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSS!!!" I yelled, putting my hands over my ears, trying to block out her lies. Those lies that were in no way true but were in every way photo-shopped.

"Valerie—"

"STOP TALKING TO ME! I CAN'T HEAR YOU, MS. SMIRKITY SMIRK-MCSMIRK!!!" I yelled, now jumping up and down on the bed. "LALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALA!!!!"

Mira, with all of her evil photo-shop-handling strength, pulled me back down on my butt. "Val. I was just showing you what I saw. Maybe that's not what you think happened, but I saw that's what I saw from my point of view. Just saying. So glad we had that conversation."

And then that evil buttmunch got up and left, after having effectively screwed up my thought process. _That evil little snake. She's learning._

Taking an angry bite out of my apple, then groaning as I realized that my breakfast was now finished, I stood up and walked back into the kitchen. Throwing away the core, I went back into the bedroom. I jumped out the window, spreading my wings out 20 feet before I hit the ground.

Yeah, I knew that Demon was going to kill me for not telling me where I was going, especially seeing as that was how the entire Mira conversation had come to be in the first place, but cut me some slack. I had never been one to follow directions from anyone, so he really shouldn't feel extremely ticked off.

He's no different from the rest of the people who try to order me around.

Shooting back upwards, I flew straight into a cloud. I decided I wanted to try something. Still flapping my wings, I lit my hands on fire, trying to propel myself forward even faster.

The wonderful news: It worked. _I am a FLIPPING GENIUS!!!_

Soon I was flying across the sky like some sort of rocket, just not as fast as Max could go when she used her super speed. I was pretty sure that I wasn't in Illinois anymore.

And my complete euphoria was probably the reason why I didn't realized that I was flying straight into an army of about fifty Flyboys. _Crabcakes._

I stopped the "fire-propping" _**(A.N. BWAHAHAHAHA!!! MY WORD!!! NO STEALING! YOU WILL PULL BACK A BLOODY STUMP!!!) **_and just hovered in midair. I fixed back my emotionless mask in place, and got into a fighting stance. Launching into the giant mass of them, I started shooting flames madly.

And then I realized that I was at a huge disadvantage, because these Flyboys were flame resistant. _I am in some serious crap._

I started kicking and punching and trying to get out of the giant mass of Terminator props, but these things were more durable than you think.

In a few minutes, I was bloody, bruised, and falling out of the sky. I felt my wings close involuntarily and reabsorb into my back. And as if that wasn't bad enough, in the middle of my mental curse-fest, I went unconscious. _Fudge._

* * *

_**--Nessie POV—**_

_**(A.N. And here we go…)**_

"Jake! Catch me if you can!!" I yelled, laughing and running away from the large russet wolf that was my boyfriend. I got a playful growl in return, and I heard as his feet lightly padded along the ground.

Jake and I always went out for a race ever since I was little. He'd shift, and then I'd leave him in the dust.

Like now. "Come on, Jake! I didn't know you were a turtle," I yelled back, still laughing as I ran.

And then as I passed under a tree, the sky started falling.

"AAAAAAH!!!" I heard Jake roar behind me in response to my scream, and then I heard his actual voice. "Ness?!"

He found me standing frozen in the same place where I had a "Chicken Little" moment, staring at this wounded girl that had fallen out of the flipping _sky_ and practically hyperventilating.

Immediately, Jake moved forward, taking her pulse. "She's lost a lot of blood already, and her heart is slowing down. If this kid wants to live, then she's not going to have much of a chance in a few minutes." He looked at me meaningfully.

I looked at her for a few seconds more, knowing that I had the power to keep her alive. And then I saw the scars.

This girl had scars everywhere; her face, her legs, her arms. Obviously, she had been through a lot. Either that, or she was just clumsy.

But somehow, I knew that this girl was a fighter. And I knew that it wouldn't do for her to have died this way. Not when I could help.

Having made my decision, I grabbed her, threw her over my shoulder, and started running full speed back to the house. "MOM!!!"

Within five seconds, she was down the stairs, with Dad in tow. "Who is that?" were the first words out of her mouth.

"She fell out of the sky," I said, ignoring the strange look I got from Dad. "You have to save her."

Mom was staring at the teenager in my hands with an unsure look on her face. But then Jake just about saved the day.

"Bells, she's going to die if you take too long to decide," Jake put in, and I gave him a very grateful look when Mom looked at me and said, "I'll get Carlisle."

Of course, because my family is that wonderfully unpredictable, Aunt Alice and Grandpa came bounding in.

"Nessie, put her down on the couch," Grandpa said. I followed his directions, pulling it out into bed-form first —**Sorry, Jake**--, and then Grandpa bit her neck.

Meanwhile, Dad started firing questions at me. "Renesmee Carlie McCarty, why in the world are we changing this absolute stranger who has no relation to us?"

I bit back the smart comment that would surely get me grounded for a while, and said, realizing at the exact same time that I was saying it, "Dad, she's _special_. Smell her."

It would probably sound strange to any other normal person, but my family is _anything_ but normal.

It was pretty hard to miss her scent in the room. She smelt like cinnamon, apples and burning incense. Sort of a sweet, but smoky smell. But the other thing that made her stand out was the fact that she smelt like an animal.

Now I don't mean that in a mean way like "Oh my gosh, you need a bath!", but it was more like she was some sort of part animal, part human thing.

And it was pretty hard to miss when you're a veggie vamp and you feed on animals. I mean, you have to notice at _some_ point what an animal smells like.

If you haven't caught on yet, my family and I are all vampires. And no, I'm not in a psycho ward.

Going back to the random stranger in our living room, Dad realized what I was talking about and said, "So you really found her falling out of the sky when you were out running?"

I nodded just as Grandpa walked over to us and said, "She is definitely different."

We waited for him to elaborate, and he did. "Her blood is somewhat human, but she also has a bit of a bird taste."

Of course, Jake said it out-right. "So you're changing an angel?"

You see? I wasn't lying when I said we weren't normal.

"Well we have to have some variety on who we have in _our_ family," Aunt Alice said, smiling. Dad just chuckled.

At that moment, we heard more footfalls coming, and Grandma, Aunt Rose, Uncle Emmett, and Uncle Jasper came through the door.

First words out of Uncle Emmett's mouth? "She smells funny."

We all rolled our eyes, and then sat around waiting for her to wake up.

It was strange. _She_ was strange. According to Grandpa, the change was supposed to be pretty painful. And how could it not be? I mean, three days of fire burning through your veins? Oh, yeah, sure. That's like swimming through cotton candy, _of course_.

But this girl, this "angel" was just lying there, like she was sleeping, or something. Uncle Jasper didn't even have to leave the room. If I hadn't heard her heart beating—which was extremely fast for a "human", anyway—out of control, I would have thought that she was just lying there with her eyes closed. The change didn't even seem to be affecting her, like she was used to the flames. **What the heck is wrong with her?!**

And then the three day process came to an end. Her heart was racing amazingly fast, so fast that the beats were almost blending into one another. And then, with one final "ba-bump", it stopped beating entirely.

We all held our breath, and Jake came back just in time from the kitchen to realize that the angel teenager was waking up. **This should be interesting.**

_**

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**_

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Progress has been made. NOW, THE STORY BEGINS!! MYEHEHEHE!!

Ahem. Sorry. I forgot to take my meds this morning, and now I'm bouncing off the wall.

But yes, review and tell me how you liked it!! I can't stand the somewhat shortness, but that might be just me and my love of long chapters. OH WELL!!

So yes. Eat some fried chicken, and laugh at the squirrels.

Peace, love, and "You know what? The answer to all our problems is that Shakespeare was Japanese. End of Story.",

Skittles31


	22. Meeting Squanto

_****_

HAHA!! YOU THOUGHT THAT THERE WASN'T ANY MORE, DIDN'T YOU?! BUT THERE IS!! HAHA!! HAHAHAHA!!

Ahem. Sorry. Still haven't taken my meds.

As you can see, my happy little readers, this is Chapter 22 of DWF. I am very happy. AND HERE COMES TWILIGHT!!

Insert hallelujah chorus here.

I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy. Like, you cannot believe. You see, the updates may be coming faster. (Just not tomorrow though, since my mother said that I've started talking to my computer and neglecting my family to curl up like a hermit in my room. So she banned me from Delilah for tomorrow. Sigh. What you get for being addicted to Fanfiction...) I have this habit of writing the middle of the story and then having to find some way of getting back to the beginning. So I've written a huge chunk of the middle, and all I'll have to do is just tweak it a bit and post it after writing the beginning author's note and the ending author's note. HUZFLAH!!! --does cabbage patch--

On other topics, I just wanted everyone to know that I've recently read this book called "Strange Angels" by Lili St. Crow, and if anyone likes Max from this series, then read that book. Other books I recommend:

Marked (the beginning of the House of Night series), The Mediator series, Boys that Bite by Mari Mancusi (for people who like vampires, period), and the Juliet Club (I was in need of romance).

So yeah. 

DISCLAIMER: The Max Ride series is still not mine. And Stephanie Meyer is not answering my phone calls, so I don't think that's going to work out either. Sigh.

ON WITH THE STORY!!!

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**_

_**--Valerie POV—**_

'Ouch.' I thought as I began to feel the ground beneath me again. Except it wasn't ground. It was too squishy.

My eyes shot open, and then I gasped, and sat up. _Oh sweet Jesus…_

Everything was all new and more defined. Like a really, really good TV. And I was very confused.

"What the flip?" I muttered, and then took in my surroundings.

I was sitting up on a bed—a very squishy bed, might I add—and in the same set of blood soaked clothes as before. Obviously someone didn't care about their bed getting marred by the blood that was all over my clothes. My wonderful Converse were gone, as well as my socks, but I saw them sitting next to the bed. Nothing felt broken and I could move pretty easily for someone who had nearly gotten torn apart by evil hell sent robots.

And I am taking this pretty lightly.

Then I saw the beautiful people in the room. There were ten of them, all of them looking completely different besides the dazzling beauty.

Most of them had pale skin and golden eyes. There was one girl with pale skin and brown eyes, and the one guy who looked completely out of place had tanned skin, and shaggy black hair. _A family of experiments. Unbelievably inhumanly beautiful experiments. HOLY CHEESE, LIKE GINA AND THE REFUGEES!!_

Except for the fact that they all looked too close in age to have any mother or father in the group there. And bronze hair dude's eyes widened as I thought that. I immediately put up a mental block. _Joy, another mind reader_. I kept my face void of any emotion.

There were five boys and five girls. All of them paired up, with two couples on either side of the room.

There was one guy who was like a GIANT. In the height sense of the word. And the muscular sense too. He looked dangerous, but in his eyes you could see that he was pretty playful. I deemed him Grizzly.

Then there was bronze haired guy, who I shall now call Penny due to his hair color. He was not as tall as Grizzly, nor as muscular, but you could see that he was pretty strong from what muscles were showing through the shirt he wore.

Next were the two blonde guys, one looking older by a few years than the other. The younger looking one, whom I shall call Soldier, had battle scars all over his face and arms where I could see. My kind of guy. I mentally smiled.

There was the other blonde one, who looked older than every one of the guys. He had these kind eyes – _Don't judge a book by its cover_- and looked like he had seen a lot, like he had some wisdom to him. I mentally named him Doc, as in the dwarf from "Snow White".

Lastly, there was the black sheep of the group, who looked Native American, with tanned skin and shaggy black hair. He had dark brown eyes, and was leaning against the doorway that connected this room to another room. He was tall and somewhat bulky too, but not like Grizzly. I decided to call him Squanto.

Then there were the girls. All of them were really gorgeous. _What the hell? Is Itex engineering inhumanly gorgeous people to take over the world or something?!_

There was a nice looking woman who was paired up with Doc. She had caramel colored hair and warm eyes like Doc. For this, I deemed her Summer.

Next to Soldier was a very small almost sprite-like girl. She was literally bouncing where she was standing and I was pretty sure someone let her raid Starbucks before she came. I deemed her Tink, as in Tinkerbell.

Next to Penny –insert mental chuckle here—was a chocolate/ mahogany haired girl with eyes slightly darker than the others. She shall be called Coco. Something about her just screamed warmth, like hot chocolate. Her face was heart shaped and she had a slightly more subtle beauty than the blonde supermodel that was next to Grizzly.

The blonde supermodel whom I shall name Beauty, was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at me with sad eyes. Either way I felt a small pang of jealousy towards her because she was so pretty. I had never been anything to look at. This girl, on the other hand, was every female supermodel's dream.

Finally was the black sheep of the girls, who was standing next to Squanto. She had curly Penny hair, but brown eyes, as opposed to all the other women in the room. After some long deliberation, I decided that I would call her Pocahontas, to signify her pairing with Squanto.

And now to start the interrogation.

"Where am I?" I asked, but managed to keep my face composed enough when I heard my own voice. _WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY VOICE?!?_

Summer smiled at me. Tink was still bouncing as she answered me, "You're at our house!" _Did she just sing that line?_

Making sure my mind was still blocked, I looked at Doc before asking another question. "So when do the tests begin?"

They all looked confused. Good actors. "Excuse me?" Cocoa asked.

"When. Do. The. Tests. Begin?" I dead panned again. Nudge always did say I was somewhat like Fang when it came to things like this. Otherwise I was a mix of Fang, Max, and Iggy.

"What tests?" Soldier asked. Alright, now I was getting a bit pissed off. And I think Soldier noticed.

"The regular tests you crazy people give me. The injections? The water endurance tests? Come on, hit me with your best shot." I said, now morphing into a more Max- like state.

"You think we're going to hurt you?" Summer said, and did she sound appalled?

"Well no one's stopped to think about that before, hurting the experiment. And yes, I do think you're going to hurt me. So hurry up, whip out the tazers already. I know they're coming eventually." I said staring her right in the face. I have to admit the words sounded a bit harsh, but when you're talking to the people who freaking hurt you in the first place, you tend to have a bit of anger towards them.

Sorry my mom didn't teach _me_ manners.

What astounded me was when Coco, Tink, and Pocahontas launched themselves onto the bed and hugged me. "Oh, you poor thing. What happened to you?"

"Where did you live before?" Grizzly asked.

"Everywhere."

Now Penny just looked really pissed at me. "Will you just answer some questions with straight answers, please? Because the way that you're just going around the actual answers is very, very confusing!" He practically yelled at me, with his eyes going dark. **And I can't read your mind, so I have no idea how to get some straight answers.**

"Calm down Penny, I'll give you some answers as soon as you give me mine." I answered rather calmly, while still itching to fight somebody because I was getting pretty pissed off too.

Everyone just stared at me, and then Grizzly started to laugh so hard I swear he may have cut off his breathing supply.

"Yeah, Penny, calm down!" Grizzly choked out, and then everyone else started laughing hysterically. All except for Penny.

"Can we keep her?" Squanto asked, with an adorable set of puppy eyes that may or may not have rivaled Angel and Nudge's pair. Damn.

"What am I, a freaking animal? Oh, yeah, right." I giggled. I may be losing my mind.

Everyone was still laughing somewhat, except Penny. "Aw, smile Penny! I don't like seeing you sad. You're so much less fun. At least be angry at me!" I taunted. Baiting your kidnappers is very fun.

Penny full on lunged at me, and really fast, but not too fast for me to actually see, I spun off the bed and out of his way, landing soundlessly on the floor. I was crouched into a fight stance, ready for him to lunge at me.

"Jeez, Penny, can't you be anything like Soldier over there? He's so calm. I mean really, or maybe even Grizzly or Squanto or Tink or Pocahontas, who are smiling like no tomorrow for what reason I don't know. Or maybe even Cocoa! You need anger management almost as much as I do!" I said, tsking him.

"Grizzly? Cool! I get a sweet nickname!" Grizzly yelled, but it hurt my ears so much I had to double over in pain. The ringing would not stop. _What the hell did the whitecoats do to me?_

And then I saw the mirror. "What the hell?"

I was pretty. Not even pretty, but gorgeous. For once, my hair wasn't all mangled, and it hung loose down to the small of my back. My face was clear of any cuts or bruises. I wasn't bleeding. But what scared me most were my eyes. They were sort of golden, as opposed to the hazel that I had grown up with.

And then I had a figure. Usually it was just a body, but now it was a figure. _I had curves!_ And the clothes that I had been wearing for the past how many days looked amazing on me, even with them hanging in shreds.

Keeping my composure, I said, "Something is wrong with your mirror."

What was with all the gawking at me today?

"You just saw your reflection, which is gorgeous by the way, you analyze yourself, and after seeing the even more dazzling beauty that you possess, you simply say 'Something is wrong with your mirror.'" Coco said, double checking.

I nodded my head slowly, after analyzing their faces.

Soldier threw his hands up into the air and said, "I can't do this!" Everyone's eyes turned to look at him. _I feel like I'm in some sort of 9 way tennis match- every time someone says something, everyone's head snaps that way._

"What's wrong, Soldier?" I asked.

He just stared at me. "You are a very strange child."

I laughed, almost to the point of hysteria. "Tell me something I don't know." I managed to get out. Then I started to stuff my socks onto my feet.

"Fine. You're a vampire." Doc said.

"I'm a what now?" I muttered.

"You, insert your name here, are a vampire." He repeated.

I sat back down on the bed. I could feel the massive urge to burst into hysterical laughter running through me, and my one of my eyebrows—my perfectly shaped eyebrows—lifted into an incredulous look. "Uh-huh. Because that makes perfect sense." I muttered to myself.

Then I smirked. "So this is a new test, to see how well I react to shock?"

Squanto groaned. "Jeez, Jasper, she's more paranoid than you are."

Meanwhile, Beauty moved over closer to me and said, "This is not a test. You were changing for three days. Pocahontas, as you call her, found you, heart still beating luckily, and after biting you once, it was enough to get the venom going, and she brought you back to the house to finish the transformation."

"Yeah, and by the way, what were you doing all the way out there in the forest with no one and bleeding so horribly?" Summer asked.

"And how the heck did you fall out of the sky?!" Pocahontas half-asked, half-screeched.

I couldn't answer her. "3 days. Oh, crapplejacks."

Grizzly smiled. "You see, Penny, I'm not the only one who says it." _I like him best so far._

"How do I know that you're not lying?" I asked everyone in the room.

"Come with us, we'll show you." Doc said, walking out of the room. I debated my options. He could tell me why I was all of a sudden all pretty and such, or I could stay here under the watch of all the other supposed vampire peoples who are blocking the only two exits—the window and the door. There was no vent system large enough for me to go through, so there goes that idea too. _Shoot._

"Fine." _Back to Fang mode._

_

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**I hope you enjoyed that. HERE COME THE CULLENS!!! BWAHAHA!!**_

**_Didn't you just love Val's portayal of Edward? I continuously laughed as I typed that up._**

**_SO REVIEW ALREADY, MY DUCKIES!!_**

**_Peace, love, and "Shut up!! It's not my fault the voices in my head are so loud!!!",_**

**_Skittles31_**

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* * *


	23. Backtracking progress Wait, oxymoron?

_**BEAUTIFUL PEOPLES OF THE UNIVERSE!! I AM BACK!! AND NOT DEAD!! AND TIRED!!**_

**_AND I HAVE FINALLY UPDATED THIS CHAPTER THAT I HAVE WANTED TO UPDATE FOR THE LONGEST TIME EVER SINCE ABOUT LAST SATURDAY. But unfortunately I couldn't because I had to go to this commencement thingamawhosamabobamawhatsitmajiggers. = Try saying that three times in a row._**

**_And then after that I had to was watching tv with my brother, Bugsy, and we were watching the glorious wonder that is "Teen Titans" and then I said to myself "LO AND BEHOLD!! They have Teen Titans fanfics!!" and then I was sitting here for about a week saying to myself that I would go online and post this chappy, and I would get online and my hand would just automatically type in the webpage and I would auto-click on Cartoons and then next thing I know it's eleven at night and my aunt would be all "ZEE! GET OFF THE COMPUTER!!" and then I would realize that I had been sitting there in a freaking catatonic state of mind reading enough RavenxBB fanfics to make my brain numb._**

**_Turn off Delilah. Go to bed. Wake up next day. Wait until five o'clock. Pull out Delilah. Begin cycle again._**

**_But, enough about that! I would like to now mention my brother Bugsy-- yes I do call him that-- has seen the light that is Fanfiction and is now beginning to type a story, although it is a Teen Titans fic!! HUZFLAH FOR BUGSY!! CONFETTI!! -does embarrasing victory dance-_**

**_ANYWAY! On the subject of this chapter update! This is something that I actually thought of after posting the last chapter. I realized that it wouldn't be right for me to just continue on with the next chapter I had already written months ago. You all would need a huge explanation. SO THIS IS FOR YOU!!_**

**_Disclaimer: In what alternate universe?_**

**_And now, ON WITH THE STORY!!_**

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_**Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, three days prior…**_

_**--Niara POV—**_

"Of course this type of demented crap only happens to Valerie," I muttered to myself, stalking down the hallway.

Gina gave me a glare out of the corner of her eye, and I shrugged it off.

Demon was taking this the worst out of anyone. He was racing around each room, flying up and down the stairs, yelling out Valerie's name. "VAL!! QUIT PLAYING!!"

**I honestly don't get this. Didn't he just flip out on her about an hour ago? What possessed her to completely disobey his orders and just go off on her own without telling anyone? Gosh, she's an idiot.**

Everyone was running around like chickens without heads, looking for the girl who had probably not wanted to be found in the first place if she had run off like she did, and that was when Gina decided to throw out one of her most ape-crap ideas ever.

"Niara, you, Demon and I are all going out to look for her." **WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS TYPE OF TORTURE?!**

"WHAT?!" I screamed, my always perfect voice shooting up at least 5 octaves with my rage.

Gina ignored me, and instead opted to drag me out the door and force me to run with her.

I pulled her over almost immediately after we had gotten out the door. "Why the heck are you dragging me into this, Gina?! I didn't want anything to do with the kid, and now I'm supposed to play Superman to her Lois Lane?!"

Gina stared me hard in the eyes. "Niara, you and I both know that the only reason that you're even relatively like this is because Val was your singer. _**(A.N. Well, that explains a lot, doesn't it?)**_ You care about her, and you know it. And even if you don't care for her, then you care about Demon and his happiness. If Val's gone, then Demon's going to be the most miserable person ever. So suck up your petty little grudge against Valerie, and just help us both look for her, alright? It's not her fault that her blood smells abnormally appetizing!" And with that, she dragged me all the way to the top of the building, where we stood trying to get a glimpse of Valerie.

"D, you got anything?" Gina asked as the three of us stood there, staring out at mid-afternoon, cloudy Chicago.

Demon was trying to hone in on his ability to know where anyone is at any given time. But apparently, Valerie was either out of range, or worse. "I can't get a lock on her," he whispered, sounding horrified.

And then, to add onto the sheer beautifulness of the situation, I heard a buzzing noise coming from off on the horizon.

"Of flipping course," I muttered under my breath.

About 15 seconds later, Demon said, "Holy crap."

There were about 60 robotic Erasers that were flying towards us like a massive swarm of locusts. Of course, what with wonderful timing being on our side and all, it suddenly hit me that we couldn't use Valerie as some sort of demented flamethrower and just be done with it. We would actually have to fight these things. **Because that's just how the entire day has been going.**

The one good thing on our side was the fact that Angel had gotten everyone upstairs and onto the roof, so we looked sort of like an army that was totally ready for anything. Although quite honestly, we weren't ready for anything at the moment, what with Valerie being missing at the moment and half of us being out of our minds.

**Joy. Joy and mushrooms.**

Demon was the first to launch himself off the roof and into the air, heading straight at the robots with an amazing amount of rage. Then went the rest of our air forces. Gina and I opted for the more leap frog-like approach and lunged for the first robot we could see. It was pretty easy to get rid of them since I had the entire lioness strength thing in the first place, and now I was a vampire/ lioness hybrid. All I really had to do was jump on them and land somewhat forcefully on their heads, and then they were basically a bunch of falling rocks. All we really had to do was leap off before the robots fell to the ground.

So Gina and I kept on hopping all through the air like some overgrown frogs, and then Exie grabbed me as I was falling and flew me back to the rooftop.

Something was bothering one of Valerie's little friends, though. "They attacked her!"

Demon was all over her like ugly on an ape. "What?"

The other one-**Too bad I don't keep track of their names…**- kept going. "There was something that was running through their minds. Well, not really their _minds_, but you get what I mean. It was a sort of video playback, and I saw Val in it. She had been fighting them, but it wasn't around here. She was over a forest, and I couldn't get a look around fast enough. But they were flame resistant, and Val was outnumbered, but she still managed to take out a whole lot of them. But then she got clubbed in the head from behind, and she lost consciousness and fell into the forest of some state that I have no idea where is. I'm not even sure if they killed her or not." By the end of her little rant, she was whispering and practically shaking like a leaf.

Gina immediately dragged me in the opposite direction that everyone else was going, and we were off running.

"Where the hell are we going, Gina?" I asked, still bounding forward in the direction.

Gina looked over her shoulder and called back to me, "I can still smell her scent faintly, but it's in the air. You're coming with me to see if you can help me track her down."

I stopped dead-on. "Oh heeeeeeeeeeeeeell to the no! Haven't you realized that I _**hate**_ her? Why take me along with you? Why not someone who actually likes her, like Collin, or Drex? They have strong senses, too, but I don't see you dragging _them_ out to try and play detective!!"

Gina rounded on me and knocked me backwards with a punch to the jaw. I stared up at her, and she glared down at me. Then, wordlessly, she spun on her heel and started walking away. I heaved a sigh, and reluctantly followed her.

I could have sworn I saw a smirk on her face.

By the time that we had gotten to a little sign that said "Miles City- 200 miles" on the woody side of a highway, night had long fallen, I think it was eleven at night, and the cars on the highway were getting further spaced apart.

Gina broke the silence that had been shadowing our little search party ever since she had punched me back in Illinois. "I think we're in Montana."

I grunted an acknowledgement. "You still smell her?"

Gina tilted her head into the air, and sniffed twice. "She's close. North of here. And there's a lot of blood that I can still smell on her. She's soaked in it." She sniffed the air, and froze. "What in the–"

I heard footfalls in the distance, and then _felt_ more than heard a shimmer in the atmosphere. "Stay alert," Gina whispered to me.

"Yeah, like I didn't think of that before," I snapped back, crouching into a fighting position. My tail jerked back and forth.

"Do you think—" Gina didn't have time to finish the rest of her sentence. I had already charged off in the direction of whatever the hell was shimmering. "NIARA!!!"

Within twenty seconds, I was in some sort of clearing and some grey, abnormally large wolf had already tried to tackle me twice. **I think that she wants me to stay away from here.**

Another abnormally large, tan wolf came in and started growling at me as well. "They don't want us here," I whispered, and I heard Gina's sound of agreement behind me.

The gray wolf growled a little louder and took a few steps toward me. I growled a little louder too. **Back off, wench.**

I surged forward and leapt straight over both wolves' head. Landing on a tree branch, perfectly balanced, I pulled a ninja type move, and started leaping from tree to tree. I heard Gina do the same thing behind me, and the wolves were following us on the ground.

"Gina! If you can still smell her, please keep leading," I said back at her.

She surged forward, and then we got to a nice little cottage in the middle of the forest. Like, seriously, it looked like it was just always there. It was so… _natural_.

And the source of Valerie's blood was coming from inside the little house, too. "Found her," Gina sing songed.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, just get the kid and let's get out of here."

And then the abnormally large wolves leapt in front of the doorway of the house, still growling at us. I looked at Gina, and said, "Remember this spot."

Gina nodded at me, and we both took off to go back to the hideout… some number of states away.

By the time we finally got back, it was about 2 in the afternoon of the next day. Gina stopped me before we got to the actual door. "We need to tell them that we're going back for her. Just not the regs." _**(A.N. Gina means "regulars", as in the non-vampire escapees)**_

We walked in and came face to face with Collin's back. "Umm, Collin?"

He turned around and said, "Good. Just stand there and don't move. Demon's trying to go running off in search of Val, and we're trying to stop him."

As if on cue, Demon came running by, looking particularly wide-eyed and out of control. **Huh. No kidding.**

And then the tall, bossy brunette girl that Valerie had dragged with her when she got here walked into the room. "Demon, we're leaving."

The tall dark one that I think Demon said was his brother came in next and stood behind her. "We're going off in search of Dr. Martinez." **OH MY CHEESECAKE!! HE SPEAKS IN FULL SENTENCES!!**

The brunette girl continued. "You might be able to track her better if we move. And besides, it's not safe anymore here."

Demon dropped the entire "caged rabbit" look and looked at Brownie blankly. Then he trudged out of the room to get his stuff.

Gina stepped forward. "We're changing locations, too. Start packing. Now. Niara, start looking for places." I dove for the computer.

"Where are you going to go?" Brownie asked.

"Somewhere we haven't gone already," Gina said vaguely. I knew that meant that we weren't telling them. We weren't going to see any of them for a while. She continued, to my surprise. "We always go somewhere cloudy, because the School thinks that we aren't going to hide out there."

Brownie looked at her, eyes lighting up. "That's actually a pretty smart idea. When we leave, we'll test out that idea."

Gina nodded, and at that same moment, the small blonde twin came shuffling in. "Max, Nudge needs help with something."

"Max" nodded at both of us, and then they all walked out behind her, looking like some kind of messed-up family portrait.

Immediately, I told Gina, "We're probably going to Canada this time."

Gina nodded absentmindedly, and then turned to Collin and said, "Collin, we're staging a kidnapping. We know where Valerie is."

It seemed as if those were he magic words, because Collin whirled her around and whisper yelled, "What?!"

Then his face lit up in this grin that could have been wrapped twice around his head, and he picked up Gina and started to spin her around. I mentally gagged. And a little on the outside, too.

"We're going to rescue her. Grab her stuff and tell the other vamps. No one else is going to know. She's in some cottage thing in the forest in Montana, and there are these two abnormally gigantic wolf things that were trying to protect the place and so we have to be sneaky." Gina rambled on.

I cut in with the little bit of information that she had forgotten. "And she's being turned into a vampire. She's also surrounded by vamps."

Gina flailed her hand around in the air. "Yeah, that too."

Collin looked at the two of us, and then another large smile started to work its way onto his face. "Okay, two things. One: you guys went on a spy mission? _Nice._ And two: _**Sweetness!**_ We're going to do a recon mission!"

We quickly shushed him and he ran out of the room to go and tell the others at vampire speed. We had a lot of work to do....

Well, Gina and the others did, anyway. I didn't really care

...That much.

* * *

**_Well, we have progress on the Niara front. Not much, but it's a turtle step farther than where we were before._**

**_Personally, I think that it's the crappiest filler I have ever done. But that's up to you guys to decide._**

**_Sooo... REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!!_**

**_Reviews= LOVE!!_**

**_And before I forget like I know that I will, I am asking you all as a favor to my fellow author "Yoshino-in-the-Moonlight" to check out her website at "fanbbs (dot) net". It's a little chatroom sight where authors from this website all talk to each other about anything that's not really covered in the forums and threads on this site. So as a favor to me, could you PLEEEEEEEEASE check it out and write somthing there too? She and I would really appreciate it._**

**_And finally, I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOO FLIPPING HAPPY!!! I was watching Spongebob and it went on break and then I saw this trailer for the new iCarly "iThink They Kissed"...._**

**_Oh. My. Flipping. Carlisle. I am pretty sure that you could hear my happy squeal all the way on Jupiter. My lungs are that large. And I'm a soprano, so that doesn't help anyone who values their eardrums._**

**_BUT!! I CANNOT WAIT!!!!! SEDDIE IS ONE OF MY FREAKING FAVORITE COUPLES!! I CANNOT--Ahem. Excuse me for a second. --walks out of room--_**

**_8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8_**

**_"SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"_**

**_Someone in Madagascar: What walrus is giving birth to octuplets?_**

**_8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8_**

**_--Skittles31 walks back in-- I'm better now. So yes. I will not deafen the world again with my crazed Seddie-Fangirl squeals._**

**_That's for another day. Mwahaha...._**

**_Peace, love, and "A...c...phlegm...",_**

**_Skittles31_**

**_P.S. To Nova Hall-- I hope you're happy. And not so bored now that this has been updated. SMILIES TO YOU!!!_**


	24. Vultures are going to get us! NINJAS!

_**WUSSUP MY HOME SKITTLE BISCUITS?! Yes, I am alive, well, and somewhere in the first third of the 5th Harry Potter book. And I must say BWAHA! I AM IN LOVE WITH A CERTAIN FRED WEASLEY! That is one fiiiiiine hunk of legal wizard.**_

**_Anyways, I am dreadfully sorry that I have not been updating lately. IT IS NOT MY FAULT!! PLEASE DO NOT KILL ME!! My school is killing me thrice over with the homework, and I have been cast in the school play "Rumors", which takes up a majority of my time after school each week. And I have been asked, even though I am a freshman, to be at the admissions committee meeting that is usually only for sophomores, upper-class men, and seniors. ALSO, I am in all three of my singing groups at school, which meet at somewhat inconvenient times. ALSO, I am in at least three clubs-- one of which has already began to perform at assemblies-- and my English teacher is behind my drama-obsessed classmate who wants a few of the other theater children (i.e. me) to perform a scene from Romeo and Juliet._**

**_In case you all have not noticed, my week is booked, booked twice, and then run over by a tank. That's how busy freshman year at my school is. BUT I AM MANAGING! And I have returned to you with this amazing chapter of DWF! SO WORRY NOT! AND HERE IS MY DISCLAIMER!_**

**_Disclaimer: Even though she has been away for over a month, Skittles31 has yet to find a way into James Patterson's office and get him to give her the rights to the Max Ride series. Stephenie Meyer has also turned down Skittles31's offer to take the Twilight series off her hands. -sigh-_**

**_Claimer: I DO own Valerie, Exie, Gem, Mini, Gina, Niara, Collin, A.J., Nate, Drex, Ray, Demon, and Kami. If you try to steal them from me, I will hunt you down like Mariah Carey and do several things that may involve the calling in of Snape into the room. -smiles deviously-_**

**_And now that we have that over with, ON WITH THE STORY!_**

* * *

_**--Bella POV—**_

"This is getting out of hand," I muttered to myself as I heard the chain rattling downstairs again.

Jake walked in from the kitchen. "Still going at it?" He questioned, casting a glance down the hallway to the stairs where the noise of the chain rattling and female grunting was coming from.

I sighed, nodding my head exasperatedly. He groaned, looked at Nessie, and went back outside to patrol. Apparently, two people- more vampires- had been spotted around the house on the first day of Valerie's transformation, and Leah was edgier than before because they had outrun both her _and_ Seth when they were outlining the house. And as suddenly as they had come, they disappeared without a single explanation or clue left behind. So we were all _extremely_ paranoid, because the Volturi had been watching us for a while now, and we knew that they were waiting for us to mess something up and then force them to intervene.

So those two complete strangers showing up outside our house just added to our heavy load of worry. Edward had barely stopped pacing since we heard the news. _**(A.N. Because we all know how Edward LOVES to worry…)**_

And another problem would be the fact that ever since we had finally coaxed Valerie's name out of her and convinced her that she was a vampire-- **That girl is much too paranoid for her own good. It took us five and a half hours to get her name out of her!**—she had gone into this state of mind where nothing mattered to her except how hard she was attacking a punching bag in the gym that Emmett had built downstairs.

I groaned, throwing my head back, and said, "I can't take this anymore!"

I got up, ignoring Jake's whispered screams of "She's gone mad! Get out of the way!" and started down the hallway to where Valerie was mock-sparring with a poor unfortunate punching bag.

I had to stop and watch her for a second, like basically every other time that I came down here. Her movements were so experienced and fluid. It was almost a dance, but you could still see the power put behind each punch and kick. **That poor punching bag.**

Valerie chuckled, then turned around to lean against the punching bag. "You gonna tell me to stop?"

**It's times like this that I really think that she can read minds too.**

Valerie shrugged. "Don't want to fall out of rhythm." **This could be the most she has ever talked to any of us at once.**

As she returned to her routine, I couldn't help but wonder: "Why would you have to be _in_ rhythm in the first place?"

There was a sudden over-surge of strength as Valerie nearly knocked the punching bag right into the wall. And then Alice ballerina-leapt in.

"Remember the vampires that Leah and Seth had seen around the house? Well, they're coming back. With reinforcements." Alice quickly said, before leaping out of the room. And Valerie did something that completely stunned me.

_She got up and followed._

This was the same girl who completely isolated herself from the rest of us, and now she was following around the rest of us, taking interest in our problems.

**You would think that after 16 years of being a vampire, I would have seen everything by now.**

I followed behind them, taking the steps two at a time, and stopped short when I got to the front lawn.

The two vampires from before were there, but they were not the conventional vampires. They smelled like… _animals_. In the way that Valerie smelled partially like a bird, they instead like other animals. These two women smelled partially like…_lions?!_

One of them smelled almost like Jake, Leah, and Seth, but it was slightly more pleasant than what they smelled like—wet dog. He smelled more like natural wolf, and was taller than any of us. _**(A.N. That would be A.J., in case you forgot.)**_

Two males —one with brown, green-tipped hair, the other with blonde, red-streaked hair—smelled like fox. They had _tails—_reddish-brown with white tips. The _tails_ of _foxes_. **What is wrong with these people? **_**(A.N. Nate and Drex, in that order, for those too lazy to look back. Like I know that I would be. And think of their tails like Tails' from Sonic the Hedgehog.)**_

Another blonde male smelled like… _mountain lion? _He looked to be one of the oldest men in the group, along with the one who smelled like wolf. He had a cat's tail and cat ears in his hair. _**(A.N. Collin.)**_

The last man standing was the darkest one out of all of them. He had black hair, and was as tall as the man who smelled like fox with the brown, green tipped hair. He was standing off from everyone except for one of the women from before who smelled like lion with blazing red hair. He didn't have any oddities that I could see, so far. He also smelled like some sort of animal, but I couldn't figure which one. _**(A.N. Pretty obvious that's Ray.)**_

There were 5 women in the group. **They all look so grown up. How old are they?** Standing beside the man who smelled like mountain lion was one of the women who had been chased by Leah and Seth. She had black hair, and –**Oh, God, her too.**—a tail. She had the cat ears in her hair, too. They poked out from the huge black mass on her head. _**(A.N. Gina.)**_

There were two women who looked completely alike, except for the fact that one had red streaks in her hair, the other blue. They both had small grey _mouse_ ears poking shyly out of their hair, as well as the long gray tails swishing behind them. The one with red-streaked hair was bouncing up and down, like an Alice. The one with blue-streaked hair was simply leaning on the man with green-tipped brown hair, rolling her eyes at whom I though to be her sister. _**(A.N. Mini and Gem, in that order. Mini has red streaks, Gem has blue streaks.)**_

The other woman with black hair had no strange animal ears was bouncing on the balls of her feet, like the woman with red streaks in her hair. It wasn't until she did a pirouette that I realized that she had butterfly wings as her strange characteristic. _**(A.N. Exie.)**_

The last woman had flaming red hair—**Like Victoria**—and was standing closest to the dark man who was standing isolated from the strange crowd on our lawn. She also had the lioness-like smell, and I recognized her as one of the two women who had previously come to our house unannounced. _**(A.N. If you don't remember that that was Niara, you seriously have not been reading this thing right.)**_

Carlisle stepped forward. "Hello. I'm Carlisle, leader of this coven. Might I ask what you're doing here?"

The man who had the mountain lion smell smiled, although it looked somewhat feral. Or at least to me it did. "Hello. We don't mean to cause any trouble, we just wanted to check up on family."

The woman with the butterfly wings couldn't seem to hold herself in any longer. "Valerie, I oughtta smack you! You nearly gave me an aneurism!"

There was a change in stance from Val, and she crossed her arms over her chest, smirking at the butterfly woman. **Apparently she knows them.**

The mouse woman with the red streaks in her hair ran over and picked up Valerie without a bit of hesitation. "We were looking everywhere for you! And Kami was crying like mad! We're lucky she fell asleep on the way here."

The woman with the black hair and lioness ears stepped forward. "Valerie, how many times have I told you not to go running off on your own? And then right after D tells you, you go off on your own without telling anyone. And then you wonder why stuff like this happens! We could've avoided all of this!" She ranted.

Valerie rolled her eyes. "Gina, you're rambling. Again."

One of the men with a fox tail ran forward and threw Valerie onto his shoulders. "V, we need to put you in a pen. A very high security, motion detecting pen."

"Nate, honestly. Really?" Valerie shot back and hugged him. The one called Gina stepped forward, handing to Valerie something that had been on her back. Something that was snoring softly. Something that had a heartbeat.

"NO!" Jake yelled, diving for whatever bundle that "Gina" had been trying to hand off to Valerie. Before Jake even got a chance to dive for the sleeping child, Valerie had grabbed her, moved over to the other side of the field, and was staring at where Jake was _supposed_ to land with a sardonic look on her face.

Now bouncing slightly, Valerie was cradling this random kid. "You think you would have learned by now that I am not the best person to be screwing with. Golden eyes, wolf boy."

Jake started growling at her, and Valerie let out a sort of "psh"ing sound. Apparently, if that was supposed to scare her, it didn't really work out that well.

The woman with the red hair walked forward. "So you know."

Everything froze around us. The animal- vampires were all staring at Valerie now, and Valerie's eyes were running over each of them slowly.

"Yeah. I know."

Somehow, the fact that she only said three words on the subject seemed to make everything worse.

"So, I guess you're ticked at us then, huh?" The mouse woman with red streaks in her hair said, stepping away from Valerie. Valerie's eyes snapped to Red-Streaked-Hair Lady's. All Valerie did was shrug. That seemed to make things worse.

The woman with the blue streaked hair immediately started trying to explain. "It's not that we didn't want to tell you, Val, it's just that we couldn't. Apparently there is some sort of guard thingy that goes around and destroys any of us who tell regular humans—"

"I think they're called the Vultures or something," "Nate" said to himself. I saw Emmett stifle a chuckle.

"Yeah! The Vultures! And we couldn't tell you or D because if we did then they would come and kill you and us and leave nothing but our smoldering ashes behind and we would have no tombstones because we technically aren't supposed to exist so no one knows about us and then the School/ Institute/ Itex" **--The what?--** "would have won and we would never have been able to really tell our story and then—" "Gina" had taken over and was talking so fast that I almost couldn't follow along with what she was saying. Then, to the relief of my ears, Val stopped her.

"You could have told me. You could have told any of us. We don't exist, Gina. None of us are supposed to exist. We spend enough time trying to fly under the radar as it is, making sure that no one finds us anyway! So why the hell couldn't you tell me or D?" Valerie's voice cut through the air like some sort of blade, and no one could say anything. The strange animal-like crowd couldn't look Valerie in the eyes.

"Did it get hotter, or is that just me?" **I stand corrected. Even in the tensest of times, Emmett can cut the tension.**

The woman with the bright red hair and lioness' tail shot a pointed look at Valerie and Valerie handed off the small bundle of child that she had just received to one of the men with the fox tails.

And then, without any warning, she full on lunged at the red haired woman. Halfway through the air, she spun around in a full circle and then performed a very fluid roundhouse kick. While the red-haired woman was flying backwards, Valerie landed without sound and said, "Now I feel a little better."

The woman with the butterfly wings couldn't help but chuckle, and Valerie turned to face her. "You all are not off the hook. I'm so pissed at you right now that it's not even funny. But instead I am going to focus on the Flyboys that are coming this way from due east some way away. They were trailing you guys, weren't they?"

The one who was in all black farthest away from the group said, "No. Would have heard them." Something in his voice just made me feel uncomfortable and squirmy. It was cool and expressionless, like he was almost a computer.

Valerie acknowledged his answer with something similar to surprise. "Well we'd better get going then before _they_ find _us_. Gina, slash me, if you will." **Wait, what?**

Before I could even comprehend what she had just said, Gina had stepped forward and her nails had grown a little sharper. Without a sound, she swung her hand down like an axe down the line of Valerie's back. Left behind were two straight gashes in the backside of Valerie's shirt. **Oh, Alice probably isn't happy right now. She just got Valerie that shirt.**

"Thanks." And with that closing word, Valerie, Gina, Nate, and all the others except for the man with the lion tail and the small bundle who I figured was named Kami ran off in the direction where Valerie had said that the "Flyboys" were coming from.

Leaving the rest of us in our complete and total awe, and my head full of questions. **What the heck is a "Flyboy"? Who were those people? Why did they give Valerie a mysterious bundle of child? What do they mean that they "technically don't exist"? Why did Valerie attack the one with the bright red hair? Why are do these people have animal characteristics? Why did this guy stay behind?**

The lion man smiled somewhat sheepishly before addressing us. "Sorry. We're just really antsy about being known to exist. Valerie is very paranoid, as are we all. I'm Collin, by the way."

As he formally introduced himself, Nessie let out a high-pitched sound from the back of her throat, and I could not stop myself from staring at Collin's tail, which was swishing back and forth like a car's windshield wiper.

After a few times of opening and closing his mouth, Carlisle finally managed to string together a whole sentence in the complete silence that came with our gaping. "What are you?"

Collin grinned. "I think I should tell you that later, seeing as Valerie might kill me again if I tell you too much. And we're already in danger of being fried to pieces by her. That girl is too head-strong for her own good, sometimes though, so it's not our fault. We'll introduce ourselves when we come back." Collin cocked his head to the side and then said, "Sorry, but I think that there are more Flyboys than they thought. Have to go. Please put Kami in some form of a warm bed. I don't want to get Valerie even madder."

And then Collin ran over, gave Rosalie Kami, and then raced off into the forest as well.

We stood there for about 2 seconds, and then Rosalie ran into the house, and ran back out without Kami in her arms. She continued to run past us, calling back, "I want to see what this is about." I couldn't disagree with her, so I ran after her with the rest of our family behind me.

* * *

_**--Valerie POV—**_

_Oh, boy, are they going to get it…_ I thought to myself as I ran faster and farther into the forest. Exie was trailing behind me a little to my left, and I knew by the way that she was continually glancing at me that she knew that I was ready to blow up _something_. These Flyboys had just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And then I heard them. They were about two miles ahead of us. Now shutting off my facial expressions and I focused solely on the complete anger flowing through me as I ran faster. _Itex was going to wish it had never tried to tail us in the first place._

I jumped up onto a tree branch and continued to leap from tree to tree. Then finally, when the Flyboys were close enough, I leapt up through the tree tops and lunged for the first one I could see. After that, everything came naturally.

Exie flew up through the trees with Gina hanging on to her. After yelling "CHECKPOINT!", she dropped Gina onto a load of Flyboys. Niara, Drex, and Mini were playing leap frog, hopping from one Flyboy's body to another, ripping something off while getting ready for the next jump. Ray started to fly through the air, swooping and weaving his way through the fallen debris.

I whipped out my wings and started gliding. I didn't care that I couldn't see how many Flyboys there were. All I knew was that this "new-born strength" thing Carlisle had mentioned was _really_ going to come in handy.

I flew straight upwards into the air, and then dive-bombed back down into the massive cloud of Terminator extras. This would probably have looked like a suicide mission had I not known what I was doing. And Big Brother Fang would be so proud—

_Fang. Demon. Max. Iggy. Nudge. __Gazzy. Angel. Blaze. Skye. Mira. __Jinx. Hope. Shawn. Shiznits._

I pulled up out of the dive, going into auto fighter mode while my mind went into intense overdrive. _What am I going to do? What do I tell them if they see that I'm not exactly… the same anymore? Frappucino, this is all Itex's fault. I swear to God, if I find out who the hell is leading this company, I'm going to make their lives such a living hell that they're going to wish that they had never been born._

I pulled up again abruptly, seeing that I was going to crash straight into an already wounded Flyboy. I streaked straight upwards past Ray and Exie, who were now almost back to back, and then dive-bombed back towards the ground.

Two feet from the tree-tops, I snapped my wings back shut and fell through the leaves. Swinging back upwards like some deranged monkey that had way too much caffeine or –even better—a ninja on crack, I managed to seriously damage a Flyboy's head; while upside- down I ended up kicking it back with so much force and speed that it nearly flew off. _Ah, the amazing grace of bird children._

Still armed with my amazing ninja skills, I flipped midair so that my feet were facing the ground again, and then managed to do a split-kick which caused two Flyboys to fall to the floor beneath me through the treetops. To my right, I saw Nate and Gem begin to clap furiously, lighting up like an illegal firework on the fourth of July. I couldn't restrain a small smirk.

By this time, the air was beginning to look significantly clearer, and it even looked like some of the Flyboys were slowing down. I couldn't help having a little fun, and focused on a small explosion somewhere across from me and in no one's immediate area. About thirty to forty Flyboys' parts lit on fire and fell to the floor. After the light in their eyes had gone out and before they reached to the tree tops, I extinguished the fire again. _I don't need to add "forest fire" to my list of things gone wrong in my life. Or after life. Whatever._

A.J. suddenly was in front of me, brandishing what looked to be a Flyboy's arm. He let out some sort of warrior yell and then took out about ten Flyboys before he dropped back into the cover of the trees. I smirked a little wider.

About 2 minutes later, there were only eleven Flyboys left, with hundreds of parts littering the forest floor. All of us grinning with malice, we each lunged for one. Within minutes, all of the Flyboys had been successfully ripped them apart so they looked like metallic confetti.

Exie let out a small giggle as we all felt the adrenaline slowly leaving our system. Somehow, I felt my eyes shift as I folded my wings back in and hopped from branch to branch to the ground.

There, we found the Cullens all staring at us in bewilderment. They were all surrounded by metal, and each of their faces was completely stunned. Ray and I both let out a small chuckle, and out of my peripherals I saw all the rest of the Refugees faces start to grin. I was still shaking slightly from the adrenaline rush.

Jasper was the first to speak. "How did you--?"

"Huh. I was expecting Alice or Emmett to crack the silence first. Not you, Jasper. Oh well," I shrugged. Then, pushing past them, I started to make my way back to where Kami was waiting with Leah, Jacob, and Seth without even a backwards glance. Collin howled with laughter.

* * *

**_And there you have it. The true linking part of the entire story-- what makes it a Twilight/ Max Ride crossover-- comes in the next chapter. Just a little teaser: Valerie's got to make a huge decision on what happens next. And what happens with Kami? And the rest of Val's Flock? And Max's Flock? And Demon?_**

**_There's a lot of plot meat in the next chapter. And I am proud to say that we have reached about the third-of-the-way-through mark! _**

**_SO dance with your chickens and howl at the sky! _**

**_Throw paint at the faces of those going by! _**

**_Be happy and celebrate, the halfway point's near! _**

**_And the story will continue when I next appear._**

**_....._**

**_I am a poetic genius. Fear my wrath. BWAHAHA! REVIEW!!_**

**_Peace, love, and:_**

-pokes head. Hears swishing.- "Teehee. I have head jelly."

**_a.k.a the newly returned Skittles31 --applause!!--_**


	25. Big mouths and Preggerness?

_**Well, first off I would like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! And HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO THE REST OF YOU!**_

**_Yes. It is my birthday. Don't look so surprised. I'm just that awesome. So MLEH!!_**

**_OK, the main reason that I haven't updated in such a long time is because since in two weeks, my ninth grade class is going to London. (Yes, you all should be jealous.) SO all the teachers decided, "Oh! Let's pile all the crap on these poor little freshmen now before they go off on a vacation!" (Here's where you all become un-jealous.) But, my darling best friend and fellow author Care912 showed me that history class is sometimes the best place to write a chapter that you later post in one of your study periods. She IS a genius. THANKS CARE912!!_**

**_I have also realized, however, that this will completely screw up the remainders of my GPA, due to the fact that she also suggested to me the idea of printing out fanfictions to bring to class to me. Oh, Care912, are you out to make sure that we fail history class together?_**

**_OH WELL! THIS IS OF NO IMPORTANCE!! HERE IS THE NEXT CHAPTER OF DANCING WITH FIRE! ENJOY!_**

**_Disclaimer: Though it is my birthday and I wished for it with all my might, I have not been mailed either my Hogwarts acceptance letter OR the ownership papers of Maximum Ride, Twilight, Second Chance, or Montana. But I DO own my own copy of "Brand New Eyes", and a whole basket load of new clothes, and my own Kindle. So I guess I just have to right that letter to Santa now..._**

**_And now, ON WITH THE STORY!_**

* * *

**_--Angel POV--_**

**Either I'm an idiot, or Valerie is just too hard-headed to be considered even in the mildest terms a good thing anymore. Jeez, I should have never let her out of my sight. None of this would have happened if I had just made her stay with me. Or at least within my sights. I swear, if she's hurt I'm going to murder the people who hurt her, and then cheerfully yell "WHAT DID I TELL YOU?!" to her face.**

This had been the gist of Demon's mental shrink visit for about, oh, say, _ever since we had left the Bunker._

I mean yes, I knew that he had feelings for the girl, and that he was worried, scared, angry, sad, and just about every other emotion under the sun. But seriously, after a day and a half of his mental ranting, enough was enough.

I looked over at Fang, who was splitting his time between glancing at Max and making sure that his brother didn't go trying to find Valerie on his own. **Because even if he doesn't realize it, he's just as stubborn as she is.**

Demon had become something of a feathered mess ever since Valerie had disappeared without a trace of anything. He was quiet again, reverting back into himself like before. He really wanted to go after her, and it took every ounce of restraint that he had—and the combined efforts of all of us—to convince him that going off and flying to the nearest School location would not have been helping any matters.

He looked strange. Without Val there, Demon didn't look whole. Even now, as we were flying high above what I think was the border between Colorado and Kansas, the space that Demon was flying over that was reserved for Valerie looked like a gaping hole.

The rest of us weren't holding up well either.

Fang's thoughts were all over the place. He was half for the idea of going off in search of Valerie, too. He was worrying about how all of this affected Max. He was trying to make sure that his brother didn't do something stupid. I extended my mind for a closer look.

This is possibly the biggest shit-load we've had in a while. Valerie's been either abducted or she's playing hide and seek. Max isn't sleeping properly again because she's trying to keep up her "I'm the fearless leader and nothing bothers me" charade when I know that she's freaking out over the fact that Val's gone. Demon's going crazy, to say the least. Shit, this is why we stick together. We're family. And now, since my brother's gone and fallen in love with his best friend, we've got two members practically out of commission.

I pulled away after this, my head hurting. Fang, even though he didn't show that much emotion all the time, felt a lot. And since he reigned it in, most of the emotion was bouncing around in his head, punctuating every thought. So when I looked in, it was like your head was being squeezed inward from all sides.

And his brother wasn't that far off.

Right after Val had disappeared without a trace, Demon had re-retreated back inside of his head. And so now, his mind feels even worse than Fang's because of all the emotions and words that he's trying to keep inside of him. Essentially, his head's turned into one giant pressurized brain bubble. Heck, I don't even have to look in on his head anymore since his thoughts are practically throwing themselves at me. I can't stand it.

And neither can Max.

Max always tries to make everything seem like all is fine and wonderful and nothing's bothering her. And I have to admit, when we were all younger, all of us fell for the act. Well, everyone except for Fang, since Fang has had "The Guidebook to Maximum Ride" memorized inside his head since the age of two.

No, wait. Scratch that, that's a lie. He _wrote_ the book.

But, going back to the topic of Max post-Val's disappearing act, Max has been putting on a really good show for us, but her mind, which is usually pretty ordered, has been in shambles. Not as bad as when Fang had left, because nothing will ever be that bad. I mean, her mind was everywhere and nowhere all at once. It was like the ground after a nuclear bomb had been dropped. But anyway, Val's disappearance had affected her pretty badly.

Max and Valerie had become pretty close, bonding over the fact that they were both teenage girls leading their own, as Max has put it countless times mentally, "merry band of mutants". They understood each other, and Max finally had a girl friend that she could trust. And then this happened. **Jeez, nothing ever goes well for us for long, does it?**

The amount of worry and franticness was weighing us down, and Max suddenly shouted back to the rest of us, "We're landing!"

I snapped out of it, and followed Max towards the ground. I looked around. "Max, where are we?"

She started to walk forward, and we all immediately fell into step behind her. She went up to a house that I'd never seen before, and knocked on the door.

My ears picked up on a voice shouting, "Coming!", and then Max's mom had thrown open the door. She looked tired, and happy, and—

"ZOMG! YOU'RE PREGNANT!" **Well thank you, Nudge, for that little clarification.**

* * *

_**--Meanwhile, in Montana—**_

_**--Valerie POV—**_

"Tell my mother. Tell my father. I've done the best I caaaaaan…"

For the past two minutes, Colin has been playing American Idol with Exie, Gem, Nate, and Gina. The Cullens have still yet to wake up and smell the werewolf. And Kami woke up and is now sitting on my lap, playing with my hair. She turned away from me and clapped enthusiastically at her uncle, bouncing up and down.

Colin grinned and bowed. I couldn't help but roll my eyes and shake my head. I warmed my hands a little more, and Kami sank back down into my lap, playing with my hair again.

Finally, after Gina went through her rendition of "Heartbreaker" by Aretha Franklin, Edward woke up first.

"You all…" _Well, we all have to start somewhere._

Next was Rosalie. "Alright, what was that?"

I threw my hands up. "We have English!" Mini giggled.

Rosalie's very much delayed reaction seemed to snap the others out of it. "What the heck are you people?" _So tactful, Emmett._

"Not like anything you've seen before." I answered cryptically, watching and mentally hearing as Edward's impatience started to grow.

"Ya damn skippy!" Drex yelled, slapping Nate a high five.

Carlisle tried again. "Umm, could you tell us why you all smell partially like animals?" _Huh. Carlisle stuttered. I feel that I have made a huge impact in society._

I looked at Colin's face. He was obviously having the same internal battle I was. I mean, they had obviously seen the fact that some of us had butterfly wings, bat wings, lion, mouse and fox tails. You couldn't even look at the Refugees without seeing that they were very _very _different from your average person.

_Well, this is a lovely little piece of crap cake._

It was surprisingly Niara who spoke up. "We're just different than your average vamps."

"Yeah, we get that, but seriously? How are you all so animalistic? And how do you make it all seem so realistic? And what were those things that you all ripped to shreds in the forest? And how do you all know how to fight so well?" Alice was bouncing faster and faster in her seat as she asked more and more questions.

I finally sighed. "Well, I can get away with this, since the entire guinea pig thing had happened a while back," I said to Gina. "But you guys can't so I am making a huge sacrifice. Y'all owe me."

I turned to the Cullens. "We're all part animal. That's why it's so real. Those things in the forest were Flyboys who want to destroy us. We had to fight them before, so we know their strengths and weaknesses. Plus, we're vamps. We're stronger than they are, stronger than you are since we're part animal too. And that's not factoring in the entire thing that I'm a newborn vamp."

I sat back in my chair, feeling exposed. Gina and the others were looking at me in awe. "Caramel…"

I shrugged, and Gina saw right through that. She narrowed her eyes at me, but Exie got to me before she did. "Val, you didn't have to. We know how you are."

Before I could say anything else, Jasper said, "So, wait. You all are really… like Jake?"

"Sort of. Yeah. Except that the only one of us who's like them is A.J., since he's actually part wolf." A.J. waved his hand. "The rest of us are different animal recombinants." Gina said, casting me a small glance.

Esme, who had so far been quiet, said, "Like?"

Nate and Drex swished their tails in front of them. "Foxes."

The twins' ears twitched. "Mouse."

Gina, Collin, and Niara all pointed out their swishing tails. "Lion."

Exie jumped up and spun around, singing, "Butterfly!"

Ray and I were the only ones left, and everyone was staring at us. In a sense, we were the most fortunate because what had happened to us was the least obvious. But we were both so used to not saying anything about it that it was a new concept to reveal ourselves. _Shiznits._

Ray shifted a little where he was standing, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw him nod his head just slightly. I sighed, and concentrated on making my back re-open to let my wings out.

Breathing slowly, I inhaled once, twice, three times before opening out a wing to its full length. At the same time, Ray opened out his wings to full length.

"Bat." "Bird."

Gina was looking at the both of us with some equivalent of pride in her eyes, and she actually sniffed a little, looking like she was about to cry.

Meanwhile, Carlisle had reverted back to lab-coat mode. "Incredible. Does that hurt? Does this affect your instincts and behavior? How did this happen? How long have you been like this? How do you all manage not to hurt each other like in the wild?"

Immediately, I felt the atmosphere in the room tense up. Kami looked at me with her green eyes, and I couldn't help but be reminded of Demon. I winced at the shot of pain that went through me, surprisingly larger than I had expected it to be.

And then Kami said, "Mommy, are we going to see Daddy soon?"

I stared down at Kami, not knowing what to say to her. And then the compulsively lying part of my brain popped up. "Daddy's gone on another mission, Luz. He and the others are going to be gone for a while, but Mommy's going to take good care of you, okay?"

Kami's eyes clouded over a bit, and her bottom lip jutted out. "When will he be back?"

I sighed, wrapping her arms around my neck. "When they all finish with the mission, then they'll all come back. And they'll all be soo happy to see you, they'll cry." _And maybe Mommy will cry too._

Kami brightened up at my answer, and then snuggled back into my chest.

Edward looked at me with questioning eyes. "Valerie, exactly how is Kami related to you?"

A.J. answered for me. "She's not. End of story."

And then Gina got down to the bulk of it. "So how the hell are we going to do this?"

Carlisle immediately perked up, thinking that we were all getting ready to reveal the wondrous inner workings of our subconscious.

Gina kept going on, ignoring everyone's sudden involved look. "Valerie, you obviously can't come back with us when we go to tell the others where you are." I shot her a look, and then she realized just how much she had let slip and immediately shut up.

But the werewolves were smarter and much more involved than we thought. Seth, who had been completely silent for the entire duration of this episode, immediately asked. "So, who are the others?"

_Of course. Because that's just how the entire flipping day has been going._

"Umm…Well…." _And Gina is of absolutely NO use._

"We're in deep shit now, aren't we, Val?"

I glared at Nate, who was stupid enough to ask the question. "No shit, Sherlock."

* * *

**_So, how did you like it? Was it a good enough filler-like thing? (Honestly, I'm not sure what the hell to call this chapter, since it sort of was important, but not that much.) So yes, reviews for the birthday girl! PWEASE????????????????_**

**_Yeah, you totally can't resist the cuteness of my pleading! EAT THAT, PHILLIP! (Sorry, Phillip is what I named my stomach. He and Ashanti (the voice in my head who sometimes takes the form of Valerie or other characters from this fic) have been arguing about whether or not my puppy dog eyes work. And I believe that Ashanti won by saying that they do.)_**

**_Peace, love, and:_**

Moe: -while the seven of us in our Latin A class are hiding under the desks in the dark trying not to have Latin class- "You know, when we're older, I _really_ hope that we're still this cool. Even Zee in her rocket powered wheelchair."

**_(a.k.a. Skittles31)_**


	26. Pickles on crap sandwiches equal my life

_**SUP, CHILLUNS OF THE WORLD?! **_

_**This would be chapter twenty six, and I am so flippin happy because coming up is the one year anniversary of Dancing with Fire. CUE CONFETTI!!**_

_**-La Bamba begins to play in the background as a carnival enters my school's computer lab. An elephant gets stuck in the doorway.--**_

_**Unfortunately, it is not all good news, seeing as I won't have time to work on a super awesome special birthday update since my schoopl is going to London this Friday. You have no idea of the amount of giddyness that is coursing through me at this moment. I swear, I look like Alice on crack. But without the totally cool vampiric-ness. And now my fellow author peoples are staring at me.**_

_**BUT ALAS! I have to post this before I go to history in about 3 minutes. So here is the disclaimer:**_

_**Disclaimer: Why do you even ask anymore?**_

_**And now, ON WITH THE STORY!!**_

* * *

_**--Demon POV--**_

"Demon, I'm going to murder you. Painfully. With a spoon. EAT, DAMN YOU!"

Max was angry at me. And threatening to gouge my spleen out with a spoon if I didn't eat. Max and Fang had made it their personal business to make sure that I ate food today, seeing as I hadn't eaten since Valerie _**--wince--**_ had left. My stomach had been trying to eat itself for the past few hours.

I was sitting in front of a full plate of food that must have gotten cold about thirty minutes ago, about fifteen minutes after Max and Fang had brought it upstairs to try to get me to eat again. I had been staring at the same spot on the wall from the bed for about an hour, and I still couldn't bring myself to do anything productive. So, my food was untouched, and my thoughts were running wild.

**What are they doing to her? What if they're trying to use her for that reproduction test that they had been talking about a the mall a while ago? What if she's dying? Oh, God, I'm gonna be sick.**

I couldn't concentrate on anything. My mind kept running the most horrible situations on what had happened to her, and I wanted my best friend back so that I could chain her to my side for the rest of our lives and say that she was never able to go out of my sight again and then simultaneously yell at her for ever having not listened to me in the first place.

I winced again.

I missed her. I missed her a lot, and I was absolutely terrified that something bad had happened to her. She was my _best friend_, practically my sister. I was supposed to look out for her, although most of the time it was her looking out for me. And then I had gone and lost her. **Jeez, I'm an idiot.**

And so then, naturally, I just stopped functioning. No facial expressions, no real healthy food intake, no involvement in anything. I had cut myself off from everyone and everything. Even Hope and Nudge, our resident balls of sunshine, had stopped trying to get me to join in any of the Flock activities. I just couldn't see the point in actually _forcing_ my body to do anything. Well, except try to look for her. But no one would let me go anywhere. Especially Blaze and Skye. He kept me under a microscope, as if he was waiting for me to completely fall apart. Skye kept looking at my arms as if she was waiting for the answers to life to appear on them.

But I didn't react. Essentially, I was 103 pounds of lifeless body, and that was where Max and Fang just about lost it.

Max threw her hands up in the air and said, "Fine! Starve yourself! See if we give your damned carcass a funeral!" With that, she walked out of the room. I was surprised though that Fang stayed behind, but I didn't let it show on my face.

He stared at me silently for a few seconds, and then took a seat beside me. He took a deep breath and then began to talk. "Look," he started off softly, "I get how much she meant to you. But you have to live to actually be able to_ go after her_."

There was a silence, and then for the first time in days, I spoke. "I keep losing her."

Fang blinked twice, his way of saying "Holy flipsticks, he spoke", and then recovered. "I get it. But you can't find her again if you're dead."

We sat there in silence for a long time, and then my stomach growled extremely loudly. I picked up the fork and began to eat my dinner. Fang didn't say anything, and neither did I, but I couldn't help but feel that that conversation had qualified as our first "brothers" moment.

**Val, just hang in there. I'm coming.**

* * *

_**--Valerie POV—**_

_Damn you, Gina. Damn you and your big mouth._ I was ready to attack her from across the room. I had never wanted any of the Cullens to know about Demon, or Max, or Fang, or any of them. _Well, actually, I never wanted them to know about me either, but that plan flew out the window when the Flyboys came in…_

Leah jumped on the bandwagon as well. "Well, what others?" _Evil wench. She couldn't just have dropped the topic?_

I inhaled, plastered a fake look of interest on my face, and kept going as if they hadn't said anything at all. "All right, Gina, you have to take Kami back when you go tell them about where the hell I am. I can't come with you, obviously, seeing as I sort of need time to adjust to this entire new thing with being a vamp. But you all can tell them where I am in the vicinity so that they can get their butts over here. And suggest that they all move here. I'll deal with how the hell to tell them exactly _why_ I'm here when that problem arises. Okay, so you have a few days to figure out the problem of telling them why you left me here, and then you can leave and never return unless by some freak accident they all suddenly die or something and you lot become their guardian angels. Oh, and you have to drop Kami back off over with me. And I will tell them why I have her with me once again when that problem arises. So, Carlisle, where are you guys moving to next? I need to be in that area so that Gina has some idea of where to tell them that I am so they can come and get me and we can all live happily ever after."

I spoke as quickly as I could and tried not to give out that much information like someone else --_CoughcoughGinagoughcough._ Carlisle wasn't exactly sure what had just happened in the last twenty seconds. Gina, on the other hand, got everything that I was saying, and immediately all the Refugees started to get up and leave.

Until Jake, who I am now considering an impulsive idiot, stepped in front of the door, trying to block it. "Wait, you never answered Leah's or Seth's question. There are more of you?" Everyone else was looking deeply absorbed in the conversation as well. Carlisle especially. _Yeah, this is where all the labcoat tendencies come out and where I silently relive memories that have nothing to do with him._

I sighed, trying to hand Kami over to Gina. "Ok, when you find 'em, be sure to tell them that I'm ok. D will birth a small dinosaur out of impatience if you don't tell him that first."

Kami clung to my neck, saying, "NO, mommy! I want to stay with you!"

The inner bird maternal instinct kicked in and I re-wrapped my arms around Kami, making sure to keep them at a stable level of warmth. "Luz, Momma's going to be staying with the new people for a little while. Right as soon as you tell Daddy that I'm okay, then you can come back. And then I promise, in a few weeks you'll get to see Daddy again, okay?"

Luz nodded enthusiastically. "Just don't tell anyone that you saw me, okay? Because it's a surprise for when we're all back together, okay? Promise me, baby girl?"

Luz nodded her head again and said, "I promise." And after kissing me sloppily on the cheek, she willingly went over to Gina, who in turn picked her up as well and latched her onto her hip. I gave Gina a look full of meaning, and even though she wasn't as good as Demon at deciphering my eyes, she got the message after a while.

"Well, it was..." Exie started and trailed off.

"..._interesting_ meeting you all," Mini completed Exie's sentence, and with a few mutterings of the word "goodbye" here and there, I watched as my family walked out to deliver one of my most important messages ever. _Please hurry Gina. Even though I really want to kill you for not having told me about all this crap in the first place._

And with that, I turned to the Cullens and the werewolves and Nessie. "You know, I'm thirsty. I'll be back."

And then I ran out of the house, taking off north in the opposite direction as the Refugees had gone. Yes, I knew that it was pretty obvious that I was avoiding the Spanish Inquisition that was awaiting me as soon as I turned around and decided to go back to the Cullens. But I'm pretty good at avoiding unpleasant things, so this was nothing new. I mean, I had managed to stay out of the Institute since I was thirteen while simultaneously taking care of six other children.

I think that that qualifies as _really good_ at avoiding unpleasant things.

But going back to the topic at hand, how the hell was I supposed to not give too much away to these complete strangers who I didn't even know if I could trust? Well, that was a lie. I mean, I knew that they weren't bad at all since their minds were almost all clean—_I need to really get some background information on Rosalie and Jasper_--, and they weren't exactly _complete strangers_, but the same concept was there. I did not do random "Oh, I'll just spill out my soul and life story to you" sessions. Except for that one time with the girls that ended pretty badly, considering that I nearly got blackmailed by Mira. _And cheese-bucket, I'm on another tangent and I swear I can here foot falls behind me._

Deciding that I really should have snatched Gem away before the Refugees had left to play messenger, I turned around and sped off back in the direction of the house.

When I got back, Leah was waiting for me in front of the house. "They were going to send me after you to make sure that you didn't try to bolt and head for Quebec or something," she explained when I raised an eyebrow at her.

I rolled my eyes and walked back inside, all eyes on me once again. _Jeez, is this how Oprah feels when she has so many people staring at her?_ I shook the thought away and double checked my mental barriers. I didn't want Edward to try to read my mind; I got enough of that from Angel.

I sat down cross-legged on the floor, and after arranging myself into a comfortable position, I waited for the first slew of questions to come. Immediately, Nessie, who was bouncing up and down in her seat, threw one at me.

"Are there others?"

I remained quiet for a small amount of time, weighing the options of telling them the truth versus lying. Finally, after a short internal battle, I decided that Gina had already spilled enough information that I couldn't lie about this question. So, I answered her in a steady voice. "Yes." I felt that the world should have fallen apart with the giant impact that that word had on the rest of my life…. afterlife…. existence. It didn't, and that's when I knew that some higher power was screwing with my life.

Bella went next. "Are they all animal recombinants as well?"

I kept the answers short and sweet. "Yes."

"How many are there?" Edward asked.

I did not look at him. "I can't say." _Because that would be too much information that I don't exactly plan to give you._

Finally Carlisle spoke up. "Since you're staying with us, could we have a little background information? Like how you got like this?"

I tried to get him to backpedal as soon as the words were out of his mouth. "Umm, I'm not staying directly _with _you. I'm just going to be in the general area."

Esme spoke up. "And exactly where are you going to stay? What are you going to do for clothes?"

I stared at her for a while, careful not to display any of my emotions on my face. "What I always do."

Esme's face grew a little more upset. "Absolutely not! You are not leaving this house just to go and live off on your own with no real place to stay! You're staying here, no ifs, ands, or buts!"

Rosalie's eyes widened, and mentally I did a double take. "Um, excuse me?" was all that I could manage.

The look on Esme's face said it all; I was not going to leave this house. "You heard me." _I think she's been inhaling a little too many of those werewolf fumes._"If you honestly don't have anywhere to go when you leave here, then I am not letting you out of this house."

I stared at her for a few more seconds, and then I blurted out, "I don't even know you people! No! I am not staying with random strangers!"

Esme would have none of it. "Fine. When I was human, my name was Esme Platt. I met Carlisle once before I died when I was a teenager and had a broken leg. The second time I met him, I had tried to kill myself because I had just lost my baby boy and then tried to jump off a clif—"

"That's all wonderful and such, but seriously? You don't know if I'm a wanted criminal or anything! Why do you think those flyboys were coming after me?"

Alice stuck her foot in the giant crap-pile that this conversation was becoming next. "You couldn't be a criminal. You fell out of the sky, like an angel. And angels can't be demons." It was at that point that I had to really stifle my laughter. _Oh, Alice, you'd be surprised._ "Also, you're dead now, so no one would have recognized you as a vampire."

_Honestly, these people are persistent. Almost as persistent as I am._ "I'm not staying. I don't stay with random people that I don't know at all and are nothing like me."

Edward stepped in. "We're all vampires. I think that qualifies as something."

I snapped. There was no other word for it. Lightly snarling, I made my case. "No, it doesn't. You think you know me? You think you know about how the hell I got so many emotional and physical scars? You think you know why I don't trust you? You _don't know me_. I have been through things you could never even _imagine._ I have people chasing after me because they know how strong I am and want me to use as a machine. When I was human, I have lived on absolutely _nothing_ for days on end. I have been through the most emotionally and psychologically damaging ordeals ever even thought of by humans and dealt with it with no one to lean on. So no, aside from the fact that we're all vampires, we are _**absolutely nothing alike**_." A candle in the corner of the room lit itself, and I tried to reign back in my anger.

There was complete silence for a few minutes, and then Carlisle said, "Even so, you told your family that you would be staying with us so that it would be easier for someone to locate you. So you are staying with us. Sorry, Val—"

"You think that _you've_ been through a lot? More than _I_ have? I have been abused and raped by my drunken fiancé and friends and had to live with not being able to have a child because I was changed. You think you can trump that?" Rosalie had apparently been slowly waiting to erupt after she had heard the very vague overview of the giant crap sandwich that was my life.

I chuckled humorlessly. "Honey, I _know_ I can trump that."

And that was as far as the conversation got before Rosalie lunged at me from her seat beside Emmett. "You _**WENCH!**_"

I dodged her rather obvious attack and flipped backwards over the back of the couch. "Just trust me, Rosalie. You haven't been through anything that horrendous compared to _my life_."

Entirely against my will, I started having intense flashbacks of the first ten years of my life, and all the absolute chiz that I'd gone through. And that was when Jasper freaked.

"Holy shit. What the hell was that?" He yelled at me, half gasping for breath when I had managed to stop the overflow of memories. He looked like a drowned cat.

I looked him straight in the eye. "Only one percent of what I went through." And then his eyes nearly bulged out of his head.

Emmett was staring at the candle. "How the hell…?"

The candle flame was now shooting up into the air, about 5 feet above where a normal candle would stand. Tuning down my anger just a little bit, I managed to put the candle out completely.

Jasper was now staring at me openly, having seemed to realize that the candle flame got stronger with my emotions. "Valerie…" he started, and then trailed off into nowhere.

I gave him a look that could have had Fang cowering in a corner, clearly saying "Shut up or I will rip you to shreds and use you as confetti for the next party that I go to." Needless to say, he shut up, and since I was still being paranoid, I put up a block around Japer's mind to prevent Edward from finding out what the big revelation on Jasper's part was.

Except that apparently, along with being essentially a dead person walking around in regular human clothing trying to blend in and drinking the life out of people, perceptiveness is one of the other little things that you get when you're a vampire. Edward had seen the silent conversation that Jasper and I were having, and then when Jasper's mind flew off the radar, that was when all the shit hit the fan.

Edward couldn't seem to shut his flipping mouth. "You can control fire. And you _know_ you can control fire." And then everyone started to freak out.

"Was that one of the things that you meant by we have no idea what a horrible life was like?"

"How well can you control fire?"

"What else can you do?"

I screamed, "SHUT UP!" And thankfully, everyone immediately shut up, somehow looking both scared and like how I imagined Angel did when she realized that Max and Fang had kissed each other at least four or five or seven times already.

I ignored the borderline creeper grins and sighed."I can control fire." _Well, that cat's out of the bag._

Seth re-asked his question. "What else can you do?"

I glared at him, thinking to myself that these people were quickly making me want to set fire to the house. "Now why would I tell you that?"

Bella finally got annoyed enough. "Oh, come on, Valerie. You know that we're all vampires. We're all essentially sharing our lives with you, and yet you're standing there being selfish. We opened up to you, it's your turn."

I took one good long look at Bella, and then went over the options in my head. _On the one hand, she's right. They essentially already took you in. Esme especially. I mean, she's offering you a place to stay for however long it takes for the others to get here._ For some reason, the voice of reason in my head sounded surprisingly like Demon.

_Yeah, but I have never even __**told**__ the story before. I keep things quiet and try not to draw any attention to myself. And I have the extreme version of paranoia. I don't tell people anything unless they have some sort of animal appendage somewhere on them. And that's only after a rigorous game of Spanish Inquisition to make sure that they're not working for Itex._

Demon-conscience sighed. _It would do you a lot of good to just tell them. And besides, you don't even have to tell them the full story. Just an overview._

…_Fine. And why the hell do you sound like Demon?_

Demon-conscience laughed. _Because he's your, well our, voice of reason, seeing as you never got one when you were born._

I broke out of my internal conversation with myself—_Sweet mushrooms, I've gone mad. I'm talking to myself. Or, at least, my own Jiminy Cricket._—to look at the rest of the room. My eyes traveled over each face: Leah, Seth, Jacob, Renesmee, Bella, Edward, Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, Jasper, Esme, and Carlisle. They all were still staring, obviously waiting for me to start talking.

I got up and started to pace. "You're going to wear a hole in the floor." Emmett said after a few minutes. I couldn't help the exasperated sigh that I let out. Here I was, about to pour the overview of my life story, and he was there making jokes while I internally had a _**coronary**_?

_Damn arsehole_.

Demon conscience reared his head again. _Breathe Val. Just get it together and talk._

I mentally smacked myself. _I really need to stop talking to myself. We already have one nearly insane leader._

Finally, I spoke. "'Kay, all I'm going to tell you is that I don't want your pity. You asked for the story and I am going to give it you."

After a few more moments of silence, I started.

I, technically don't exist." I paused. "And the people who made me like this would have liked to keep it that way. Though that apparently just went out the window.

"I'm an experiment from a group called Itex. They mixed a human embryo with bird DNA through amniocentesis and the result would be me. There are a few others like me who actually survived long enough to bust out of the Institute and/ or the School, like Gina. But overall, people don't usually get out of there alive. You either break out or die. The Institute is where they… _raised _us, but not the way any parent would. I hope.

"My family consists of several other hybrids, and we are the oldest living specimens to survive. We will keep it that way. No ifs, ands or buts. The scientists at Itex will stop at nothing to get us back, because they are terrified that we will expose ourselves to the world and the government will track them down and arrest them all. Which I would have absolutely no problem with, except for the fact that we actually like to fly under the radar. No pun intended.

"There are tests of endurance at the School and the Institute, to see how long you can withstand pain without passing out. You get electrocuted, they inject colored dye into your bloodstream, make you run until you pass out. They drug you, throw you around like a rag doll, and tear you apart. If they screw up, if something goes wrong, it's always your fault. To them, it's always the experiment's fault.

"You are put on display. If they want to take something from you, it they want to run a test, take some measurements, then you let them. That's how it is; you do what you're told, nothing more and nothing less.

"To them, you have no name. You are an Experiment Number. You have no rights. You are expected to behave. You do not make sounds, you do not try to disobey. And most of all you do not try to escape. Or you're going to the Eraser playroom.

"Erasers are, besides us, the longest lasting experiments that Itex has ever made. They're part man part wolf, and all evil. The flyboys were next in line of evolution. Part wolf, part robot. When they failed too, they made what they all saw as the "perfect experiment". None of them worked.

"The main thing that the whitecoats tried to do was to break you. Obey the rules, don't do anything they considered rash, and eventually you don't feel anything. Just obey. The pain was less that way.

"Those of us who escaped, we're special in that way. We wouldn't let them break us. Instead, we broke all of the rules. And that's why I'm here; because I never listened. I was stubborn. I didn't stop talking back. And that's where I got all my scars from. My life is one big contradiction onto itself. I shouldn't exist, but I do anyway. Because I fought. And that's, in a nutshell, the giant crap sandwich that is my life."

* * *

**_Did you like it?! THEN REVIEW, DAMN YOU!! And then you may reread to your heart's content._**

**_MUCH LOVE!! And now Imust go and tell my homeroom teacher that I am here, since I have yet to even move from the computer since I got to school._**

**_Peace, love, and "My Latin teacher had to assure me today that he was not secretly doing Dominatrix-like activities. This school makes my life.",_**

**_Skittles31_**


	27. Ironic life jokes and the Macarena

_**--A chorus walks in and gets into position. Skittles31 comes in wearing a fancy dress and a huge smile on her face. She raises her arms, and the chior begins to sing beautifully...-**_

_**"Happy birthday, Dancing with Fire.**_

**_Happy birthday, Dancing with Fire._**

**_Happy BIRTHday, Dancing with Fire..._**

**_HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!"_**

**_Skittles31: And now, in Spanish! --Hears incomprehensible mumbling--....CLOSE ENOUGH!!_**

**_Yes, it's true! This story has been up for a year now! CUE CONFETTI!! --A confetti cannon goes off in the distance, and the world begins to party--. I am so happy, you have no idea. And I have never been more happy that I can't use a calendar, because when I was in London, I thought that I was missing the anniversary. BUT I WASN'T!! SO HERE IS THE UPDATE!!_**

**_Disclaimer: It's been a year. Why do you even bother reading this thing anymore?_**

**_And now, ON WITH THE STORY!!! --Choir begins to sing the hallelujah chorus--_**

* * *

**_--Valerie POV—_**

_Oh, sweet fellow bird children, what have I done?_

I was thoroughly mental freaking out over what I had just revealed to the Cullens and the werewolves. And they were all just sitting there looking at me with some sort of expression that looked like a mixture of awe and shock and sadness. And their minds were functioning only with incomplete sentences, which was, to be blatantly obvious, annoying the crap out of me.

_Jeebus, I spilled my life story to you. The least you could do was to show some sort of reaction._

I started tapping out a rhythm of a random song on my shoe, deciding that ignoring them was going to be my best chance of not going insane with worry about what Max would do to me if she heard what I had just spilled. Meanwhile, I searched through each mind.

Edward's thoughts were the most understandable at the moment: **She—torture—human?—How?!--Evil.** And then a couple of brain neurons fired in unison and he started linking together full sentences in his head. **What kind of sick, twisted people do that to a **_**child**_**? A **_**baby**_**?**

_The sick, mentally unstable, wicked devil spawn that I just told you about._

Bella's imagination was running absolutely wild, picturing some of the things that I hadn't told her about. Her eyes were widening with every picture that she came up with, and then she muttered to herself, "If I could, I would be sick."

Carlisle was the first person to come around back to the minds of the fully conscious. He was looking at me with some sort of new expression on his face that I had never seen on the face of anyone who had looked at me before. "You've been through so much."

My mind was instantly a little sharper, waiting for the punch line when he said something along the lines of "But we still have more tests for you." And then he would have Emmett, Edward, Jasper, and Jacob all drag me kicking and screaming into the semi truck that would be waiting for me outside in the back of the house. And Esme and Bella would be grinning evilly like the Erasers—

_Holy taquitos. They're vampire Erasers. _

And that was when my mind went into "jump the gun" mode. I essentially took every horrible situation that I could think of and mixed them together into one giant ball of pure bull crap without even considering the actual facts. Like the fact that the Cullens smelled absolutely nothing like wolves in any way, shape or form.

But unfortunately, when I go into hysterical "jump the gun" mode, everything seems to make sense. So I started to make up these completely impossible situations about how the Cullens were going to spontaneously burst into furry outfits like Jacob, Leah and Seth did, and then I would be somewhat screwed trying to fight eleven gigantic furry wolf-peoples that had the same advantages that I had in comba—

"Valerie, calm down." Jasper said to me, and then at the same time, my brain started to actually work logically again. I somewhat relaxed, and then tensed again, realizing that I hadn't wanted to un-tense myself for that fleeting moment. I gave Jasper an under-the-eye-death-glare look which he managed to hold his own under for about two seconds before looking away from my gaze.

"Sorry. I really didn't mean to. I'm an empath, and whenever Alice starts to get really hyper I usually end up sending her waves of calm. I swear it was a reflex," Jasper rambled, having taken notice of the room's steadily rising temperature.

Abruptly, I stopped the temperature rise, staring dead at Jasper. "You can control emotions?" I deadpanned, trying not to give away how completely and totally freaked out I was.

Jasper rolled his eyes again. "Valerie, quit freaking out." _Well that answers that question…_

I went over in my head what that meant. Either a) I could possibly be in the biggest shit pile of flipping dino-crap that any lone bird-kid had ever been through before in their lives, or b) I was going to have a much harder time with keeping my emotions in check.

Either way, the outcome was like having the Director being your fairy godmother: _pure monkey shit._

I sighed to myself. "Okay, does anyone else have some out of the extraordinary skills that they would like to share?"

Alice started to bounce up and down in place again. "I'm psychic." _For the love of bird children, I was only joking!!_

I absorbed that bit of information, and then inhaled a large breathe of un-needed air again. "Okay. Anyone else?"

Edward straightened up a bit in his chair. Apparently he had more than a few skills or something with the amount of substance in the stare that he was giving me. "Yes, I'm a mind reader. And how is it that I could read your mind for a few fleeting seconds right after you had just completed the change, and then after that your mind was completely shut off to me? And how did Jasper's mind get cut off from my abilities for a few seconds before we learned that you could control fire?"

_Ok, now I know for a fact that I'm not going to like possibly living with this guy._

Edward's eyes were fixed on my face, waiting for any hint of a reaction. I, meanwhile, was trying to figure out a way to compulsively lie my way out of this new pit hole. After a few seconds, I realized that there was absolutely no way out of this.

_I want Demon. He always has some way of getting out of bad situations even when I don't. I need him to please get me away from this family that seems to be able to break down all the barriers that I put up. _

I hated the fact that these random people had managed to get through most of the barriers that I had put up to make sure that no one was able to get to me. I needed Demon to be here to help me get out of here.

Jasper perked up at the sudden change in my mood, and I focused back on the situation at hand and trying to figure out how to answer Edward's many personal questions without revealing too much about myself.

I racked my brain for any type of an excuse, and then came up with absolutely nothing that would help me. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place again. I had to tell the truth again, because I had no other way out of this. _Why the hell is whatever God there is deciding that today is the day to screw up all of my life?_ "I can read minds. And project thoughts. And block off minds."

Every word that I said sounded wrong on my tongue. I felt completely stripped of all my shields, and I had never wanted Demon there with me more than at that moment.

Jasper gave me another mildly interested look that said, "What's causing you to feel like that?" and I immediately switched my thought process to something else, not wanting to give away anything. It was then that I realized that there were no secrets that could be kept in this flipping house. Everyone always knew where you were, what you were doing, how you were feeling, what you were _going_ to do; there was no sense of _privacy_.

_How the flip is it that somehow I, the queen of keeping things secret, manage to wind up in the house where there __are__ no secrets?_

Somehow managing to maintain my composure, I fixed my now-useless emotionless mask back on. I didn't want anyone knowing any more about me than they had to. I summoned the rest of my courage and looked each person in the face, waiting for the next question that would be thrown at me. I briefly wondered why I hadn't just tried to bolt in the meantime, while everyone was trying to recompose their faces. And then I realized that Alice would have seen me thinking about running away and immediately stopped it.

_Once again, what kind of sick, cruel, ironic joke is this?_

Renesmee finally spoke after a few more minutes of silence. "So, that's all your abilities?" Thankful for a somewhat less personal question, I nodded expressionlessly.

The inner scientist/ doctor came out in Carlisle, as I had been expecting it to. "May we see your wings again?"

I mentally sighed, feeling the familiar burning sensation of my back opening to let my wings out. Slowly, I extended my wings and wrapped them around my body, feeling a little more comfort at the feel of the soft feathers wrapped around me and the soft, downy smell. Some of the primary feathers on my right wing ruffled a bit with my pleasure. With everyone's eyes still on me, I absentmindedly readjusted them. I hadn't thought it possible, but Carlisle's eyes got wider at that little display of feather control.

* * *

**_-Jasper POV-_**

They were magnificent; there was no other word for it. They seemed bold, and proud, and even in her state of disconnection from the situation, Valerie's wings made her seem elegant and graceful, even in stillness. The wings gave her an air of innocence, which was a bit disconcerting because these were the wings of the same girl who had been ripping apart metallic flying robots around an hour ago with her bare hands and enjoying herself.

The wings had dark brown feathers with red tinting everywhere but the primary and secondary feathers, which were pure white. Even in the lighting of the room, the feathers gave off a red glow around her. She looked like an angel, and the serenity of her wings was at the complete opposite end of the spectrum with her actual emotions.

The first thing that hit me when I looked at Valerie's emotions was the self-berating thing that she had been doing; she was incredibly angry with herself. There was sadness and fear, over I'm guessing the other animal- vampire hybrids that had previously been here; there was some very intense discomfort, I'm guessing from the Spanish Inquisition that I think she knew was coming up.

One emotion that I was surprised had even shown up on the emotional radar was the sense of indifference; usually, whenever someone was pretending to feel a certain way, it didn't even show up on the emotional spectrum as a real emotion. **Either she's an amazing actress, or she has been hiding her emotions so much that it's become almost impossible to tell when she's faking an emotion or not, even to herself.**

Then there were the secondary emotions: guilt, resentment, worry, and—**Wait a minute. That emotion is **_**not**_** secondary.**

There was an emotion that nearly bowled me over by how deeply it ran through Val. It barely came through as anything, even a secondary emotion, but the farther I examined it, this longing, almost infatuation, ran really, _really_ deep. **Who the hell is she pining after like this? I mean, I haven't even known her for that long and yet I know that Valerie doesn't **_**do**_** pining mindlessly!!**

And then Valerie really threw me for a loop: the emotion was being suppressed. She didn't even _know _that the intense almost-affection that she had under wraps existed. It was just sitting there, undiscovered, building up slowly, and I honestly had no idea what the hell would happen once that affection was finally released, seeing as it was sort of like a time bomb now, waiting to explode.

Carlisle interrupted my evaluation of Valerie's inner emotional conflicts by bringing out the inner scientist/ doctor/ science loving person in him. "How much are you not like a regular person?"

Valerie readjusted herself so that she had her arms wrapped around her legs. With her head resting on her knees, she seemed to curl even more into herself than before, which I hadn't thought was possible. With a twinge of internal resentment, she took a deep breath and began to speak almost mechanically. It was obvious that she didn't want to give away that much. "I don't have feathers anywhere else except for the wings. I have air sacs and lungs in me. My heart would beat faster than a normal person's. My body would run at a higher temperature. I eat much more calories at each meal than regular people do. I have a really fast metabolism. I can go higher in altitude without fainting or struggling to breathe. I can run faster than any of you because of the part animal thing. I have better senses than any vampire. I'm stronger and lighter than an average person. I have an internal compass thing inside of me so that I always know which way I'm going. I'm really skinny and tall for my age… that's it."

At each word, the twinge of resentment grew until she was fully mentally-berating herself again. I felt badly for her, and didn't plan on asking any more questions, but Emmett plowed right on. "So even though you look about nineteen or twenty, you're really…?"

Valerie mumbled, "Seventeen, I think." Emmett looked smug at having gotten an answer out of her, and Valerie was slowly but surely reverting back into herself.

I stepped in here. "Well, Alice, could you please help Val get settled in? I think that was enough Spanish Inquisition for today, and personally? I need some time to absorb all this."

Everyone seemed a bit upset that the interrogation was over, and even though there was no change in Valerie's face, she sent me a mental message. _Thank you._ Her mood even rose a tiny bit.

I didn't dare to answer her back because Edward was in the room, but when she looked at me again, I nodded infinitesimally. Then, so quick and tiny I wasn't even sure I had seen it, a small smirk appeared on her face. And then Alice led her out, bouncing as she told Valerie about how she would love her new home.

* * *

**_--Demon POV—_**

I could hardly breathe as the Refugees told Max and the rest of us that Valerie was okay. Kami was sitting in my lap herself, fast asleep.

Gina's voice was ringing through my head as she continued telling us what she knew about Valerie's whereabouts. "She's somewhere inside Montana, near the capital. She sent me a mental message saying that she was okay somehow, just being held somewhat hostage by some very curious regular people. She also found some more people that are like us, a trio of Erasers who were some of the first ones that weren't as human as A.J.'s group, but they aren't evil either, according to her. So yes, she's okay, just a little tied up at the moment. She says that since the new people are a bit curious, and she's pretty sure that one of them has discovered that her secret weakness is sleeping in a bed with tons of pillows and that she's hiding something really big, she may be stuck there until she can devise a way out. But she asks for you all to hang tight, she'll come in maybe a month or so." And then my euphoria bubble popped.

"A month? I can't wait a month. Where did you say she was?" I said, having already jumped up with Kami in my arms and walking towards one of the bedrooms with my stuff in it.

Gina didn't looked in the least bit surprised with the fact that I was the first person up and getting ready to get Valerie. "Umm…. The sign said "Miles City- 200 miles", and then I heard her about 50 or 60 miles from there. She said something about how she was going to be stuck with them for a little while because they're like Dr. M and Ella, if that means anything to you. She hurt herself pretty badly, and they hit her with something too before she managed to get away. But she said that they were moving to somewhere in Canada right by the border. She didn't mention a town, so I don't think that she had figured that out as yet."

Within 2 minutes of Gina having finished her sentence and effectively giving me a reason to be living, I was completely packed and ready to go get Valerie so that I could kick her skinny butt from here to Harlem.

Dr. Martinez was trying to stifle laughter at the sight of me, looking completely ready to go, and then she did burst out laughing hysterically. I gave Angel an under the eye look that said, "Don't say a word", which she cheerfully ignored.

* * *

**_--20 minutes later--_**

"Ok, so apparently we're going now, since Demon is acting like a little kid who has just seen the candy shop in the mall," Max said, still smirking as she saw that I was still waiting, practically bouncing beside the door. "Mom, I promise we'll be in touch. Bye Ella! Bye, John!"

We took off from the roof under the cover of the night sky, waving goodbye to the Refugees and Kami reluctantly, and I immediately soared up to where Max was. "So, which way is Nelson?"

Fang rolled his eyes, and I bopped him in the head with my wing. Max laughed. "We're heading north, guys!" She yelled back at the rest of our group, and everyone cheered. Nudge even did a loopty-loop. **Val, we're coming. Finally.**

**

* * *

**

**_And so ends the first part of the special DWF birthday update._**

**_Readers: WHAT? THERE ARE TWO PARTS?_**

**_Skittles31: YES! OF COURSE!! THIS IS A SPECIAL OCCASION!! NOW REVIEW, AND THEN READ ON!!_**

**_Readers: HUZFLAH!! -begin to dance in various homes all over the world-_**

**_AND AWAY WE GO!!_**

**_Peace, love, and "My brother could be, in an alternate universe if you tilt your head to the right and squint, Don Corleone. Huh, now I know how to get rid of my enemies...",_**

**_Skittles31_**


	28. Mama Birdie and Rampaging Mass Homicides

**_And now, the second part of this totally awesome Dancing With Fire One Year Anniversary Update!!! I especially love this chappy because everything sort of comes together in a totally awesome piece of writing. Maximum Ride and Twilight are finally together in one room. YAY!!!_**

**_DISCLAIMER: See previous twenty seven chapters._**

**_Oh, by teh way, Happy Belated Thanksgiving to all the Americans reading this, because I know that other people from Britain, like "Jacob Black...Ooft Phitt", read this. And, once again to only the Americans, Happy Ugh-I-Really-Shouldn't-Have-Eaten-That-Last-Turkey-Leg Weekend. (aka Recovery Weekend) _**

**_And now, ON WITH THE STORY!!_**

* * *

-_**Valerie POV, 2 and a half months later-**_

I pulled the earplugs out of my ears as the clock struck 8 and Kami shifted in my arms. We had moved to the Canadian border, to another overshadowed town that rarely ever had any sun called Wesley, and I knew that Demon and the others knew that I was okay, but I was hoping to whatever higher power there was that they had some clue as to where I was.

I mean, I hadn't exactly given Gina that much to work with before she got to them in Arizona, seeing as she had to make up a location for the Cullens to move to on the spot to avoid Demon's jumping to conclusions and then running off to find me, like I knew that he would do. But she somehow managed to keep him from bolting, so I had even forgiven her for the not telling me about the Refugees being vampire hybrids; she had managed not to screw up the situation even more, and that meant a lot to me. Hell, she had even partially made up an excuse for the obvious physical change that had come over me, which made explaining the situation a hell of a lot easier for me to navigate. _I owe her one now_.

Also, I understood now why she couldn't tell me or Demon or anyone else about being a vampire; Alice had explained the entire situation to me two days after I had "moved in" with the Cullens.

_--Memory—_

"_We have to go on a shopping trip soon. I honestly can't believe that you have no other clothes than this!" Alice had learned about my clothing situation after I had moved my stuff into the attic where my new room was, and was now throwing a mild tantrum. Jasper looked at my face, looking completely bored, compared to Alice's, who looked like she had just seen the Easter Bunny, and nearly started to cry with laughter._

**It's going to be fun living with you, Val,** _Jasper thought at me, and then left me alone with the shopaholic pixie from hell that he called his wife. __I hate you right now, Jasper. I hope you know that._

"_Ok, so Val, I needed to tell you about the Volturi since you're going to be living with us for a while as far as I can see. Your need for clothes can wait… just not for that long." Alice led me over to my new bed, piled high with pillows—__Damn it, they know my weakness__—and sat me down on the edge of our bed. I raised an eyebrow, signaling for her to start._

"_Ok, so the Volturi are like the CIA for the vampire world. And they reinforce three rules: no one can tell regular humans about our existence; no vampires can change a child, which was the source of a huge immortal children crisis years ago; and no one can change too many humans in one area to cause suspicion._

"_Gina was right to not tell you about her being a vampire, otherwise they would have attacked her and killed her, along with the rest of your friends. Now, just while we're still on that topic, I need to tell you about their relationship with us._

"_We aren't exactly favored by the Volturi because we shattered their confidence a few years ago on the Renesmee topic. To make a long story short, when Bella was human, she got pregnant by Edward and had Renesmee, who Jacob imprinted on. Nessie looked like an immortal child, and no vampire was allowed to make them any more. One of the Denali sisters whose mate we had killed saw Nessie and told the Volturi that she was an immortal child, which made them all rush over here ready to attack us. We had to persuade them otherwise, and they have been monitoring us ever since, waiting for us to do something against their beliefs so they can destroy us. So you have to be careful while you're living with us, okay? Ok!"_

_And with that, Alice twirled out of the room, leaving me with my thoughts. __Way to lay it on thick, Alice._

_-End Memory-_

So now, Kami and I were living in what could have been considered a mansion compared to what I was used to with a bunch of vampires who were under suspicion for treason by the vampire government. _I'm really not sure how to label this situation._

The room (which, to me, was more like an apartment) that Alice had prepared for me was beautiful. It was dark blue and black, which Alice somehow had known were my favorite colors, with white carpeting. I had a rather grand and elaborate bed for someone who was never going to sleep in it. (Alice had said something about what type of bed it was, but I honestly wasn't paying attention.) I also now owned a fully- equipped bookcase and my own laptop, which already had iTunes on it. _Alice saw me coming, apparently._

The ceiling had been redone with the night sky painted on it, and there was a huge window on one side of the room for easy access in and out for flights. My closet was nearly empty, which Alice was planning on "fixing" as soon as possible, and there was an easel and drawing station in one corner of the room. _Apparently she saw me being some sort of art prodigy as well…_

The first time that I had seen it, I had stopped dead in my tracks. Esme and Alice had worked hard on making it as perfect as possible for me, and I had been speechless. It was the first time that anyone had gone so far out of their way to do anything for me. Honestly, I nearly cried, but I managed to hold myself together enough to say "Thank you." They had both beamed, and Alice had gone running back downstairs, saying, "Everyone! She likes it! I knew she would, but I want you all to know!" I had chuckled at that, and then I had to try to get my eyes to stop burning when Esme hugged me and said, "Welcome home, Valerie."

_Honestly, I might be able to get used to this "home" thing._

Carlisle, on the other hand, took a little more getting used to than Alice or Esme. He wanted to know everything about my anatomy, and then conducted a few experiments. Of course, I was bit skeptical, since the word "experiment" was accompanied with some mental images of the Eraser playroom at the Institute. But he was nicer about it than I had been used to.

He had taken me right after hunting two weeks ago with Emmett, Jasper, and Edward to a nearby town, where we had learned that human blood was not so tempting to me since I didn't try to run away from him and the boys, squealing at the top of my lungs "FRESH BLOOD!", or anything along those lines. _I think he think it went rather well, actually._

After that, Carlisle said it was okay to allow me near civilization. His theory was that since I was already part eagle, and eagles hunted other animals as their prey, this might have changed my blood preference so that I was already a "vegetarian" vampire. I agreed, seeing as I had woken up from the change with golden eyes already, and that was the only logical explanation that I could think of. It was also the only explanation that Carlisle could come up with for my not minding the smell of Jacob, Leah, and Seth as well.

I grabbed my notebook (once again provided by Alice), kissed the sleeping Kami on the forehead after tucking her under the covers, and ran down the stairs. I was getting a crash course from Bella on all the stuff I would be learning this year in the school that it had been decided that I was attending; Esme had taken it into her own hands for me to actually go into the town and do something, not just rot away in my room doing nothing.

"Besides," she had said, "Your family who you're looking for also needs to find you, and they can't find you if you're sitting in the house all day."

So Bella was teaching me all the stuff I would need to know for sophomore year in high school, which was where I going to be placed when I went into school with the Cullens. I already knew some of the basic stuff- _I'm not completely uneducated._- but Bella had to teach me a lot of the more advanced stuff, seeing as being on the run for your life does not make time for dropping into a classroom to learn how to prove if a parallelogram is really a quadrilateral.

_But, at least I know that if they ever ask about getting out of a life or death situation without dying or fully maiming yourself, I will ace that subject._

Plopping down on the couch, I watched as a few minutes later, Bella entered the room with Edward, and immediately averted my eyes. I mean, granted, they weren't as bad in terms of the public displays of affection as Rosalie and Emmett, but they were still pretty bad.

After about three minutes, I moved a tiny bit on the couch, alerting them of my presence once more, and Bella jumped away, looking a lot more sheepish than Edward could have ever even _tried_ to look. I rolled my eyes, and Edward gave her one final kiss on the cheek before he left the room and she looked at me.

"Ok, so now we're moving onto Shakespeare, since math gets a bit tiring after a while." Bella said, and I instantly perked up a bit. Then I frowned a bit.

"Is that the guy who wrote the play with the two people who loved each other and died?" I asked her. Bella chuckled, and then nodded.

See? I'm not completely stupid book-wise! There are just a lot of gaps to fill…

About 3 hours later, having spoken at vampire speed, I was now somewhat educated in the history and literature of Shakespeare. I was extremely happy that I had a vampire memory now, which basically meant that if I even heard it once, I could recall it with ease. There was a lot of stuff about Shakespeare to remember.

And then Alice came bounding down the stairs, Nessie in tow, singing, "Valerie! I have a question!"

I wrapped my arms around my knees, preparing myself for the interrogation that was sure to come from that tone of Alice's voice. "Huh?"

"I never asked you, but where is Kami from?" Her eyes were wide and innocent as she asked me. I nearly started laughing, because Alice was anything but innocent when she wanted to be.

I stared blankly off into space as I answered her truthfully. _If I was being honest with myself, I would say that answering these questions truthfully is getting easier_. "I found her on the street when she was maybe a few days old in an alleyway in the city, and I took her in with D." And then I realized that I had said too much.

"Who is D?" Nessie asked, her voice holding an undertone of giddiness at possibly getting an answer to one of her many questions.

"Demon." I told her shortly, because I knew that I had mentioned that name before to everyone.

"Val…" Alice said threateningly, then her face went blank. When some sort of film started running in her head, I realized that she was having a vision.

And nearly had a heart attack- which was impossible-, seeing as she was watching Max, Fang and Demon walking down an aisle in a small grocery store. I was hit with a wave of emotions: familiarity, happiness, excitement, relief, and that one other emotion that kept hitting me in the gut without warning that I couldn't figure out for the life of me…

* * *

**--VISION--**

"**We aren't enrolling in school again. You remember what happened last time," Max was stating her case to Fang, who seemed to really want to go back to school.**

"**But last time was with Anne…"**

* * *

The rest of what Fang had to say got cut off—_Though I don't think that, knowing Fang, it was that much more_-- as he started to get blurry and then he disappeared completely; Alice had lost the rest of the vision, and I pulled out of her mind as it cleared completely.

"That was strange," she muttered to herself, but I was extremely happy. _They're all right! They're ok! They're here! Damn it, Fang, persuade Max. I need to see you all again._

"What did you see?" Bella asked, now turning her full attention to Alice, who was now wearing a slight frown on her face.

"Three random kids—"Alice cut off as she saw me getting up with a huge smile on my face."Val?"

I simply smiled at her, the first genuine smile that I had ever let them see, and nearly danced back up the stairs. I could not contain my joy.

Climbing up the final set of stairs that led to my room, I twirled in happily to where Kami was sitting up in bed. "Mommy?" she asked, watching as I danced around to her side of the bed.

I projected into her head while still moving my mouth, "Your daddy and aunties and uncles are all okay, Luz!" Kami's eyes got really wide, and then she squealed and wrapped her arms around me tightly, just as happy as I was.

After finally calming down about five minutes later, I heard Luz's stomach growl. I held her away from me at arms length. "Is _bebe Luz_ hungry?" She giggled and nodded, and smiling slightly less, I walked back downstairs.

Everyone was staring at us as we moved down the stairs, but I paid them no mind, waltzing with Kami into the kitchen. Setting her down in one of the chairs, I went straight to the cabinets.

"Now, what does Baby want for breakfast?" I asked, and Kami perked up. "Pancakes!"

I mock sighed. "Again?" I whined, and Kami giggled, nodding her head.

"Fine," I droned, and then turned around and began to gather everything necessary for the process of chocolate chip pancakes. Then after a while I started humming because the kitchen was much too quiet, and my paranoia was settling in.

"No good. You're up to no good. But damn you look good and I'm drunk," I sang to myself, suddenly swinging around and picking Kami up when the pancakes were ready to be left alone. She squealed. "MOMMY!"

I continued to waltz around the kitchen with Kami, humming out loud and taking care not to spin fast enough to get Kami dizzy. Finally, after checking the clock and realizing that the pancakes were going to burn if I didn't get back to them soon, I set Kami down and flipped them, now to the tune of "Build God, then We'll Talk."

I could see Kami bouncing in time to the music out of the corner of my eye, and I smiled to myself, pouring more chocolate chips into the batter.

Five minutes later, she was happily munching on the pancakes, and I rested unnecessarily against the counter to watch her.

I've never given her credit, but Alice actually picks decent clothes for Kami to wear. In the middle of my little reflection on Tinkerbell, Kami stopped eating and watched me. And then she proved to me that six year olds are a lot more observant than I ever gave them credit for.

"Mommy, why didn't you make any for yourself?" Kami asked completely innocently, and I immediately made up another lie.

"Mommy's been up for hours, _bebe linda_, so she already ate," I cooed to her, and then admired my lying abilities as she believed me and went back to eating.

I hadn't realized it consciously, but we had attracted an audience. Rosalie, Esme, Jasper, and Carlisle were all standing there, watching the scene silently. I stared for a few seconds, and then re-averted my attention to Kami, opting to reach out to read their minds silently.

Carlisle, according to his train of thought, thought that the maternal side that I was showing to Kami alone had to do with my being part avian. I rolled my eyes, just choosing to ignore him and his attempts to understand the way that I operate. _Trust me, Doc, Demon's been trying for years and still can't figure me out._

Esme's mind was an entirely different matter. She thought that it was a nice change to see me smiling instead of the impassive face that I had on all the time. The way her thoughts were going, you'd have thought that she was my mother. I wasn't sure how to react to that.

Rosalie was jealous, plain and simple. First of all, she and I hadn't exactly gotten off on the right foot, and then the fact that I had Kami and she had no kid even though she desperately wanted one was sort of adding to the pile of things going against me in her book. I rolled my eyes. _I don't have time for her and her problems._

As I was about to get to Jasper's mind, he interrupted me. "Val, since when do you know Spanish?"

I shrugged. "I picked up a few words here and there." _Not to mention that I'm apparently already supposed to know it, since my biological parents are Spanish- speaking._

Kami finished her food, and I laughed a little when I saw her face, which was covered in maple syrup. "I think Luz needs a new napkin." She giggled at herself, and Rosalie's anger at me flared.

Putting the dirty plates and pans in the sink, I turned around with a wet paper towel, wiping off Luz's face gently. Then her eyes focused again on mine, and I thought of Demon again as I saw her vibrant green eyes.

"Mommy, what's wrong?" She asked me, hooking her arms around my neck. I shook my head, effectively clearing it, and then said to her, "Nothing, baby. Mommy's just thinking."

"Ok. Mommy, later, can we go for a fly?" Kami asked, her face beginning to brighten., and then she gave me the Bambi eyes.

_Damn it. I should have never done that look on Demon when she was in the room. _"Fine, sweetie." I said, caving almost instantly.

"YAY!" Kami squealed, and I sighed, reminding myself that I needed to really strengthen my defenses against adorable six year olds with supreme begging abilities.

* * *

_**--Two Weeks Later--**_

I hopped out and leaned against the jeep. I stood there, looking at the gigantic school building named "Wesley High School" –_How original_--that I was now supposed to be going to every day until I found Demon and the others and was able to get the hell out of here. I sighed. _I'm not going to enjoy this. Or that could be Max influencing me what with her horrible memories of school in Virginia and the Red Haired Wonder._

"Here we go." Emmett muttered as we went to the registration building. Almost every single head turned towards us as we walked to the building, and it did not help that _some of us_ could hear what they were thinking. _Honestly, are there no non-perverted minds in the teenage world anymore?_

After yet another mental scarring that will last me a lifetime, we finally got to the registration building and were able to get our stuff. Although Emmett and I being forced to stifle our laughter because the receptionist was shamelessly flirting with Edward, oblivious to the fact that Bella was struggling not to rip her head off. _Damn, and Bella is usually the level headed one._

After that episode which added to my list of cons about "Why Bird Children named Valerie Should Not Be Going to High School", I looked at my schedule and saw that I had English first. I walked with Bella, who had Algebra first, to Building three and got in the class just as it started. The teacher immediately stopped me and said, "You must be the new student. Please, stay up here and introduce yourself."

I already instinctually hated the teacher. I hate giving away information to anyone. _But I can't just ignore the woman. I mean, this is her job... Ugh, Esme has been pounding too many good values into me…_

"My name is Valerie McCarthy." I started to walk back down the aisle, having spotted a lonely seat in the back of the room.

"Where did you move here from?" Annoying teacher said, interrupting me just as I was about to sit down. I mentally growled.

"Washington."

"Any favorite things?" _What the flip is this, Twenty Questions?! Spanish Inquisition?! Let's See How Far We Can Push The New Girl Before She Blows Up the School?!_

"My iPod. The outdoors. Fighting."

After this, she let me sit down –_Thank Bird children, for her sake._—and I pulled out the book the teacher, whose name I finally learned was Ms. Clifton, was starting to tell us about. _Romeo and Juliet. _Joy_, a love story. Note heavy sarcasm. But at least Bella told me what to expect._

About 40 minutes later, I found that _Romeo and Juliet_ was a pretty okay book. _But there could be more fighting and blood in it…_ Then I was interrupted as I felt Edward trying to make a connection.

_What's wrong?_

**How are you holding up? All the girls are staring at me, and I'm sitting in the back of the classroom!**

_Fine. Not sure if I have that problem, haven't been paying them any attention. Who put you up to this?_

I could imagine Edward sitting there smirking discreetly. **Way to speak in complete sentences, Val. And no one put me up to this. Can't a guy just check on one of his sisters?**

I raised an eyebrow skeptically. _Edward, really._

There was a pause, and then: **Fine. Esme told me to keep an eye on you to make sure you get the hang of high school.**

_... Thanks, Esme._

**I'll let her know during my free that you appreciate it. And I have to go, my teacher thinks that I'm not paying attention.**

I scoffed to myself. _I wonder why._

**Oh, shush Valerie. Bye.**

_Later._

We broke off the connection at the exact same time, and I didn't have to really pay that much attention to anything else seeing as in 15 minutes, the bell rang. I grabbed my things, heading straight for Science. Luckily, Alice was waiting for me when I got outside of the classroom. As we walked in, she took one look around and smiled. "Hopefully none of them will stalk you home." I looked around to see what the hell she was talking about and groaned. We were the center of attention.

_Once again, whatever higher power there is decided that now would be a wonderful time to screw with the life of the one person in the world who HATES attention._

That class, Spanish and History passed in exactly the same way. By the time lunch came around fifth period, I was ready to freaking punch somebody's lights out. I was extremely jittery. Bella, Alice, and I all walked to the cafeteria and waited for the rest of the family clan outside the doors; Alice had a plan. _Which obviously can't end well for me…_

"Ok, Rosalie and Emmett, since I know how you two love the spotlight, you guys go in first. There will be a table at the far end of the cafeteria. Head towards it, that's where were sitting obviously." _What did I say?_

"Next are Edward and Bella. Oh, and Edward, control your temper. Seriously. No blood on the floors.

"Jasper and I will be going next, and then finally Val. Sorry about you being the lone ranger, sis."

I shrugged, "It's fine."

Before Rosalie and Emmett went out, Alice gave out more instructions. "Stroll along, take your time getting to the table. And make it seem like everyone else isn't there. Okay, ready? Rose, Em, GO!"

They walked into the cafeteria, and it automatically got silent. _Oh, great. All eyes on me. I __**hate**__ attention, Alice, weren't you listening?_

After about 10 seconds, Bella and Edward glided through the blue double doors. Out of the glimpse I got of the people inside the cafeteria, everyone's heads snapped their way as soon as they heard the sound of the doors creaking open again.

Jasper and Alice stepped up to the door next. Alice turned to me and whispered, "Good luck. I'll signal you, and Jazz'll be sending you calm waves all the way." I nodded, extremely thankful for Jasper's being an empath. And then they danced into the lunchroom too.

_I have never wished that Nessie was older than fourteen more than in this moment. _

I took a deep breath, calming myself –_No one is going to attack you as soon as you walk through the doors. Just breathe, and think that Kami is waiting for you at home. You need to avoid committing mass homicide for her._-- and finally, I walked through the doors myself.

You know that dream that almost everyone seems to have where everyone stares quite openly at you and you glance down to see that all you're wearing is your underwear? That was the feeling of walking into that lunchroom as a McCarthy. _Geez, I might as well be carrying a giant neon sign with the words "HI! I'M THE NEW KID!" written across it with a giant spotlight on me. You couldn't get any more obvious. It's like being a prostitute in a nunnery._

At the table, Edward hid his head in his arms on the table, and started—_ Oh, wait, no, that's laughter, not any warning signs of a seizure._

I casually glanced around, looking at all the different faces that were sitting together. A quick glance was all a vampire would need, and I could see all the details I wanted:

At one of the tables closest to the lunch line, a geeky looking kid with loads of acne and suspenders—I kid you not, suspenders—was not breathing.

A table full of scantily dressed girls was glaring quite openly at me, as if I was openly branding them. Or burning them at the stake. Or shoving a pitchfork down their throats. _Hmm, that doesn't seem like that bad of an idea…_

I heard Edward start to take deep, unneeded breaths, head still down on the table. I turned my attention back to the –_ahem_-- school children, and glared right back at them. They all cringed backwards into their seats. I internally smiled. _You are so lucky that you didn't meet me in a dark alleyway, or you all would be roasting over an open fire._

Some skaters were sitting alone in one corner of the room, and one made eye contact with me. He smiled a little, and I couldn't help but smile a little right back.

A table over, some people dressed entirely in black –_Like Fang. Sigh.—_calmly regarded me, then the girls looked back out the window. The boys kept staring, eyes wide open, mouths hanging down. _Ugh. I can't stand all this attention. Alice, when we get home, I'm burning all my clothes as a way of getting revenge against you for this._

Immediately, I saw Alice get that blank face that she always gets when she has a vision, and I took pleasure in watching myself throw a bonfire for all the clothes in my closet. After she wiped the look of horror off her face, Alice began to growl at me, and I fixed a small smirk onto my face for only her to see. Edward started to laugh silently again.

One of the preppy girls at the table in the center of the room looked at me, not hostile, but more like" I think that you could make a good friend". Peeking into her mind, I saw that she didn't even want to be at the preppy table. She had friends outside of where her social clique was, like the skater who had smiled at me before. She just didn't know how to rebel against the same forms that there had always been forever.

Meanwhile, I was trying to figure out if this was _Mean Girls: Revamped_, or a real high school. _I can now stand readily by Max and say that I hated high school._

I finally got to the table after what seemed like forever and plopped down in a seat on the other side of Bella while Emmett laughed at my situation with Alice openly. Obviously, Edward had told him of my plan to burn all of the clothes in my closet when I got home as a way of paying back Alice for having been so kind as to make me the center of attention after I had clearly told her that I hated having all the attention on me.

Bella, who seemed to have noticed just how much Alice wanted to kill me –_It's not that hard to notice…_--, turned the situation away from us, instead asking me, "So, how are you liking high school so far, Val?" Thankfully by the time that I had gotten to the table, the noise level had started to go back up to its original deafening roar.

"Sexist pigs. All of them. Every single one." I said, and it didn't take much thinking for her to realize what I was talking about.

"Oh come on, they couldn't have been that bad." I stared at Jasper like he had two heads.

"I'm going to go on a homicidal rampage." I said lowly and ominously. Jasper winced as he saw that I wasn't kidding, and Alice went wide-eyed as she got the vision, seeing as I was actually considering it.

"You're not serious, right?" Alice asked, seeing as she had just gotten a rather realistic image of me going insane and killing basically everyone in the vicinity.

I rolled my eyes. "What do you think, Alice?" And then I froze at the strong scent of bird in the area. _Please, let it be them…_

I slightly turned to scan the cafeteria and very visibly lit up. Sitting four tables away were Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Demon, Mira, Skye, Hope, Shawn, Blaze, and Jinx. _YES!_

_

* * *

_

_**And now, you review even more because you love me! I also must give a wonderful shoutout to chechuu-cullen, because I just posted Chapter 27 this morning at 8:06 and somehow this amazing person has already reviewed. YOU MAKE MY DAY, CHECHUU!!**_

**_NOW REVIEW!! ADN HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO DANCING WITH FIRE!!_**

**_Peace, love, and "Wait! I'm breaking up with him! It's only going to take 5 minutes!!" "Moe! You fail!!",_**

**_Skittles31_**


	29. Supermodels! And Half Drowned Cats!

**_HOLA!! Wazzup my peoples?_**

**_Yeah, I know that it took really long to post this next chapter, but I'm up to an inch above my head in school work, and singing stuff, and other assorted evil things that are trying to kill me before I reach college. BUT I LIVE!!!_**

**_Although I am a bit burnt out since yesterday was the big winter concert for my school and I somewhat sang myself into oblivion. I mean, I am abnormally tired. And I am NEVER tired. I'm sort of like the energizer bunny. With coffee running through my veins. Honestly, my friends have all vowed to never let me have any sort of coffee, because I would immediately cause the apocalypse._**

**_----------------_**

**_Skittles31 approaches a small cup of seemingly harmless liquid and begins to drink. As she takes the first gulp, she immediately begins to bounce on the balls of her feet so fast that she becomes a blur to both the human and the vampire eyes. Her pupils dilate, and a maniac grin spreads over her face. Then, to every single living being's horror, she disappears completely, almost as if she Apparated._**

**_There is a flash of light, a loud crashing noise, and then the world goes dark._**

**_A few moments later, the sun comes back on, now cracked straight down the middle, and complete chaos is seen on the face of the Earth. It is desolate, and looks surprisingly similar to how the ground would look if a bomb had been dropped. A very, very, VERY large bomb._**

**_On a pile of absolute junk, Skittles31 suddenly reappears, the maniac grin still on her face. She surveys the landscape for a few moments, and then begins to bounce again, the grin somehow managing to still grow bigger. "LET'S DO THAT AGAIN!"_**

**_-----------------_**

**_And that, my dear readers, is why even in the most sleep-deprived of situations, I am never allowed to have coffee. Seeing as I sort of already have it flowing through my veins where my blood should be._**

**_And now that that little tip to avoiding the apocalypse has been shared with the world, I post chapter 29 of DANCING WITH FIRE!!_**

**_Disclaimer: Still nothing on this front. -le sigh-_**

**_Claimer: You die if you if you touch Val. Or Demon. Or Kami. Or the Refugees. Or Val's Flock. Just remember that._**

**_And now, ON WITH THE STORY!!!_**

* * *

**_--Max POV--_**

"I _love_ school, Max! I honestly don't know why you didn't want to come back! I** love** it here! I'm getting popular, and all the teachers are really nice. And, most importantly, the boys are all sort of gorgeous. I mean,_ really_, I never knew that normal, non- genetically altered guys were all this hot! Is that, like, the common default that all male babies have? Grow into a really cute teenage boy?

"I mean, take that really hot guy who sits across from me in Algebra second period. He is one _**smoking**_ piece of male! Max, if we find Val, do we_ have_ to leave immediately after that? Can we stay here? _Please_? I mean, I already made three friends, and I actually like this school more than the one in Virginia. But I hated that one because there was the entire thing about how Anne was really evil and we were worried about finding our parents and then there was the thing with Fang and that girl, umm, what'serface, Lissa, that you really hated. _**A lot**_. And that was just really bad, since I've only seen you hate Erasers with that much fury. I didn't like her either, she didn't seem like Fang's ty—"

"Nu—_Monique_! Stop talking before my ear falls off, please," Mira said, pretending to keel over in pain holding her ears as we walked into the cafeteria. Meanwhile, I was still trying to figure out what the hell Nudge had said, seeing as it all passed by in a matter of maybe seven seconds.

Yeah, Fang had managed to convince me to let the kids go back to school. I was now stuck in a basic hell hole with people asking me all sorts of questions that I really didn't want to answer and being forced to learn things that would be of no help to me if I ever came face to face with, say, the Director. Or Brigid Dwyer.

Fang, Demon and I had been shopping for the massive amounts of food required to keep thirteen growing bird children happy and not starving when Fang had brought up the topic of our less- than- perfect education. And that was when it all went down hill for me.

_**-Memory-**_

"_We're going to school, Max," Fang sprung on me when I was reaching for the potato chips in the snack aisle. I nearly dropped them in response to his almost command, but quickly went back into "I-am-the-leader-and-you-are-the-second-in-command.-You-do-not-tell-me-what-our-next-move-is-going-to-be" mode._

"_Excuse me, but we aren't staying in one place for an entire year. Think, Fang. We have to keep moving to make sure that Itex doesn't track us." I reasoned, putting the chips into the cart again._

_Fang blinked once, which in Fang means, "You are listening to me, Maximum. And you are going to listen, whether you like it or not." **Only Fang can fit that much into a single blink.** And then he started again. "Max, we have to look for Val. We can't just crash wherever and expect Val to magically appear."_

_Remember how I said that as Fang got older, the alpha male bird genes took action? This was one of those times when he kept trying to take action and say what our next move would be. I hated when these moments came, because Fang, I hate to admit, had a point._

_Like I would ever tell him that, though. Max Ride does not go down without a fight,-- __**If she even goes down at all**__,-- or admit that she's wrong. It's one of those things that will never happen, and if it does, you should all be in safe houses trying to save yourself from the end of the world._

_Then, I made the mistake of looking at his face while trying to tell him that I was the one who was right. But he was giving me the "Male ego stare". __**Oh, please, not this again.**_

"_Max, it won't be anything like Virginia," Fang murmured, and was it just me, or were his eyes smoldering? _

_Instantly, my mind shot back to the Red Headed Wonder, and a small pang went off in my stomach. At the thought of her, I tried to turn back to the shopping cart, the bitterness and scowl already settling into place. __**She was Satan with that frickin' fiery hair on her head.**_

_Fang would not let me turn away from him. His eyes smoldered a little more, and even though I really wished that I could, I found myself unable to look away. **Brilliant time to freeze up, Max.**_

"_Umm, either of you done making bedroom eyes at each other?" Demon interrupted, and I immediately turned away, busying myself with the shopping cart and making sure that everything was in the right place. My cheeks were reddening. __**Damn it, Fang, stop it.**_

"_We weren't making bedroom eyes at each other," Fang said, because he wasn't having problems attempting to speak after that little… whatever the hell that was._

_Demon rolled his eyes. "Whatever. We going to school or not?" _

_Before I could say anything, Fang affirmed it. "Yes."_

_I tightened my grip on the cart, but I didn't say anything. It was no use arguing with Fang; he had grown up with me. He wasn't about to change his mind any time soon._

_I continued to push the cart down the aisle, leaving the boys behind and wondering when the hell I had gotten so soft._

**_-End Memory-_**

And that's how I got to this point: sitting in the middle of a crowded cafeteria with Nudge yapping away at me in one ear and trying incredibly hard not to murder Fang the next time that I saw him. My knuckles turned white as I gripped the table, trying to keep myself from running out of here like it was the School itself.

"You okay?" I nearly jumped out of my chair, spinning around with a punch fully ready. A hand readily caught the fist, and then I realized who it was. _**Speak of the devil…**_

Fang had walked up behind me without my realizing it. My heart rate slowed down a little, and I glared at him. "Will you make some freaking noise when you move already?"

One corner of his mouth twitched: Fang's version of a smile. "No. What's the fun in that?"

I yanked my arm out of his grasp and busied myself with my tray of lunch in front of me. "I preferred it when you didn't talk," I muttered to myself.

Fang sat down beside me, ignoring what I had said. He looked at me for a few seconds, and I glared at him, getting more uncomfortable by the second. "What?" I asked grouchily, nearly ripping my sandwich to shreds in the process.

Fang lowered his voice, taking note of the fact that Iggy, Demon and Jinx were now at the table. _**At least they listened to me when I said stick together. Hell, at least they listen to me period. As opposed to some dark haired, dark winged bird children that I know...**_

"You need to loosen up. You're tense," Fang stated, his face almost blank of all emotion, except for the small bit of worry that he was letting show through. Which was odd in itself, since Fang doesn't show emotion through his eyes. Or any other part of him for that matter.

_**No shit, Sherlock. I wonder why I could possibly be tense!**_ "I hate school. I didn't want to go in the first place, and then all of a sudden I'm sitting in the middle of some random classroom learning about some crap that's never going to help me if I'm in the middle of a fight with, say for example, Omega. Not to mention that the twins are nowhere to be seen. How the hell do you know that they haven't been taken or something?" I fired at him. After taking a few deep breaths, I crossed my arms on the table and buried my head on them. I let out a small groan, suddenly overwhelmed with my life.

Fang kept quiet, and after a few heavy moments I felt him begin to rub my back gently, right between where my wings would be. I let out a high pitched squeal, and shot back up immediately.

"What the hell was that?" I whispered, looking at him with wide eyes. Fang didn't say anything, just looking at me with this look that said almost everything and nothing at the same time. Then the shield went back up, and he turned away from me.

_**Holy frick, I'm getting a headache.**_

Still massaging my temples, I greeted Skye, Blaze, Shawn and Hope, who were the last group to arrive. Realizing that we needed another table, Jinx hopped up and dragged another table over to where we were.

Successfully drawing attention to us. I groaned again, earning another look from Fang. "I hate being the new kids."

Nudge pounced on the topic of conversation immediately, having finally finished her original rant about the apparently cute guy in her Algebra class. "We're not the only ones, though. There are seven other new kids who just moved here too. I saw one of them already today. She's gorgeous. Five of them are the McCarthys; the other two are the Whitlocks. They're all adopted and they just moved here from Washington. As in the United States. I don't know where they are though. They should be here since everyone has one lunch period toge—"

As Nudge started to get into her rant again, the doors swung open and a pair of frickin gorgeous supermodels strolled in, acting as if they owned the place. The girl supermodel had long blonde hair and golden eyes, and was holding onto the arm of the unbelievably large and well- muscled golden- eyed male supermodel with the curly dark brown hair. The girl, after surveying the room and smiling when she realized that the place had gone completely silent, stopped in the middle of the cafeteria and reached up to peck the male on the lips. After staying like that for a few seconds, they continued to glide across the room like they were skating on ice. As soon as they had found a table in the corner and sat down, the doors swung open again, and another pair of supermodels came gliding in.

This time, the girl had long brown hair and golden eyes, and was holding hands with the golden- eyed, bronze haired male. _**He looks like a penny mutated and then grew into hair on his head.**_

The guy stiffened, and his eyes flashed coal black for a few seconds. _**Just like Val…**_The girl looked back, rolled her eyes, and then tugged him along, breaking him out of whatever trance he was in. He smiled down at her, and then pulled her closer to his side, kissing her forehead. She smiled a little brighter, now wrapping her arm around his waist.

Honestly, the whole thing made me gag a little on the inside with how sickeningly sweet the display was.

As soon as they had sat down, a third couple strolled in. _**What the hell? Is this some sort of supermodel expo or something?**_

The girl was tiny, and reminded me of a pixie. She had black spiky hair, and golden eyes, just like all the other supermodels who had decided that the school cafeteria was the next runway. She was smiling and had this smile that practically screamed "I know something you don't!"

The guy, also with golden eyes –_**What the eff? Is it some sort of new supermodel protocol that all supermodels have golden eyes, now?**_—looked a bit less happy to be in the middle of the cafeteria being stared at. He had golden hair, just like the first girl who had walked in. His eyes were a bit shifty, but the girl looked back at him and smiled. He smiled back at her, and then twirled her once, somehow managing to look unbelievably graceful even though all he did was lift an arm in a circular formation. The girl, on the other hand, looked like a professional ballet dancer or something.

Before they sat down, the guy dipped the pixie, and once again, I gagged a little on the inside. _**Please, someone kill me. I can not take all this sappy crap.**_

Nudge, out of the corner of my eye, looked confused. "But there are seven of them…"

A slight murmur began to rise again in the cafeteria, as other people realized that apparently, whoever told them that there were seven other new kids besides us couldn't count.

And then, the rest of the conversations were cut off. The doors swung open for the fourth time, and this time, a collective gasp went up from a majority of the male population through out the entire cafeteria. Our table stayed silent, seeing as:

One: A majority of the males at our table were "taken" by another girl in the group, and

Two: Fang just didn't show emotion that openly.

The final supermodel was by far the most different. Her skin was a "sun- kissed tan" –_**Seriously, I have got to stop listening to Nudge so much,**_--, unlike the pale ivory that the rest of the supermodels were. She had ebony hair like the pixie, but it went down her back instead of being spiky.

_**Like Val's hair did… Jeebus, we need to find her. For everyone's sake.**_

She was alone, with no male counterpart. And, if I was reading her walk right, she was fine with it. She had no problem with walking into the cafeteria with about 600 eyes on her. She looked confident, and had the same "Just try to screw with me and see who comes out of it with all their limbs in the right places" look that Fang did.

She did a scan of the room, looking over each table, and then the pixie supermodel seemed to start getting angry as an unnoticable-unless-you-grew-up-watching-Fang-smirk-and-learned-how-to-read-him smirk grew on the still-walking ebony haired model's face. The penny haired male model was having a laugh attack at their table next to the pixie. _**What the hell is wrong with these people?**_

Finally, the ebony haired supermodel got to her table, and slowly the noise level rose again. At our table, it was surprisingly Blaze who broke the silence. "So, I'm guessing that those were the other new kids?"

And to all of our surprise, Nudge stayed silent while Skye answered his question. "No chiz, _Brandon_."

I rolled my eyes and tuned the rest of them out as I worried about devouring my multiple sandwiches.

* * *

_**--Valerie POV—**_

I did everything I could to refrain from jumping up and down in my seat and squealing like Alice. However, when you have an empath sitting at the same table as you, it doesn't really work.

_THEY'RE HERE!! THEY'RE HERE!!! THEY'RE HERE!!!!!!!!! –mental happy dance—_

"Valerie, why is it that you look and feel as if you're going to either spontaneously combust or lose control and cause random fireworks at any given time?" Jasper asked me.

I imagined that for a brief second, and then began to grin involuntarily. In Emmett's mind, he saw an image of me smiling that smile, and then proceeding to blow up some random abandoned warehouse somewhere. _Really, Emmett, does my smile scare you that much?_

"Wait, your other family's here? And you know for a fact that it's them?" Edward asked, and I mentally cursed as I realized that I had left my shield down.

I listened to their thoughts, the already large smile on my face growing as I recognized the old rambles that Nudge usually spewed out verbally, although they were going faster than she would ever have been able to speak. _Thank jeebus, we all would have died already if Nudge could speak as fast as her thoughts fly._

Max was going through possible escape strategies and at the same time vowing that she was going to kill Fang for having put her through school again.

Iggy was thinking some pretty violent thoughts about the guy who apparently sat across from Nudge in Algebra. _Oh, Iggy, jealousy will get you nowhere. Snogging her speechless and/ or senseless and then saying that she is now your girlfriend, on the other hand, will._

Mira was threatening to kill Nudge if she kept going on about how gorgeous the McCarthys were. _Well, that will make Rosalie happy._

Fang was worried about Max and how tense she was over going back to school. _Ha, same old Fang. Same old overprotective, worrying-about-Max Fang. Even if she doesn't need worrying over._

And Demon was wondering when they would get to see me again.

I dropped all pretenses, turned to Edward and nodded. Alice forgot that she was angry at me, ran around the table, and then pulled me into a hug. "Valerie, I am so happy for you! Now you can finally introduce us to the people who helped to teach you to kick Emmett's butt with those totally awesome moves!"

Alice's statement was a bit loud, at about regular speaking level. But Demon heard due to his bird hearing, and snapped his head around, turning it towards our table, focusing on Alice's rather joyful form with her arms wrapped around my stiff unresponsive body. His eyes locked with mine and we stayed like that for a few seconds before he nodded, and I did the same. In the back of my mind, I realized that Alice removed her arms from around me. He raised an eyebrow slightly, moving his eyes around the room, and I shrugged, pursing my lips a little. I tilted my head slightly to the side, nodding my head in his direction and raising an eyebrow, and he smirked slightly, shrugging his shoulders. He nodded his head once, then turned back around and I smiled, turning back to my own table. Everyone was staring at me. "What?"

"I'm guessing that was the Demon that we've heard _so _much about," Alice said, albeit a bit sarcastically.

"Yeah?" I answered, a little curiosity managing to break through my monotone.

"Just an observation," Bella mused.

I looked at her face carefully. "Yeah. He never really was one to talk, so I had to learn to read facial expressions." _She is sooo lucky that she has a mental shield projected around everyone at this table, because I know for a fact that it was not "Just an observation"… _

At that moment, the bell rang. _Jeebus, lunch is unbelievably short here. I am so lucky that I don't have to eat anymore… _I got up to throw my untouched packed salad away, and looked at my schedule. _Yes, gym! I can let off steam, finally!_ I got up to go, saying "Goodbye" to everyone at the table. Alice bobbed up and down next to me, ready to run to gym. I shook my head. _Crazy hyperactive pixie vamp._

When we reached the gym, which was its own building, we got the uniforms that had been pre-ordered for us by Carlisle, and walked to the locker rooms. Almost the entire population of high school teenage girls was glaring at us, but they still parted to make a pathway for us. _We don't have the flipping plague, people. Get over yourselves._

After changing, which was almost a painful experience seeing as everyone was basically boring holes into the back of our heads before I started to glare back, I left Alice complaining, still going on with her "These clothes have absolutely _no_ personality" rant, and walked into the gym, leaning alone against the bleachers.

I had been standing still for a few seconds when I heard the bleachers creak beside me. I opened my eyes and saw Demon, Nudge and Mira leaning next to me. My heart did a little flip inside my chest, but I restrained myself from showing any outward emotion, seeing as they probably didn't recognize me.

Nudge, no surprise there, started the conversation. "Hi! I'm Monique Martinez. These are my siblings, Trent and Miranda. We heard that you're one of the new kids, so we just wanted to make you feel at home here, seeing as you don't know anyone besides your family." _Damn, Nudge, I've never heard you say so little at one time. And so slowly either…_

I smiled a little at her, and said, "Thanks. I appreciate it." _Might as well show them some appreciation, seeing as they're family and all…_All of a sudden, the coach appeared from the small office on the side of the gym.

"Alright. I'm Coach Spalding, and I am to be your gym coach for the year. Now I understand that we have some new students. Valerie and Alice McCarthy! Trent, Miranda, and Monique Martinez!"

I sighed. "That's me." With Nudge, Demon, and Mira flanking me, I walked over to where Coach Spalding was standing in the middle of the basketball court.

Coach Spalding looked us over once and said, "Which one of you is which?"

Alice jumped into the situation, because I think that she knew that I was about to shoot back some sort of smart-ass answer like I usually would. "I'm Alice, and this is my sister, Valerie." I raised my arm in acknowledgement and out of the corner of my eye I saw Demon, Nudge and Mira flinch.

Coach Spalding nodded, then turned to the others and boomed, "Who are you, then?"

Demon took the initiative and started to talk. "I'm Trent. That's Mira, and that's Monique."

Coach Spalding nodded. "Welcome to Wesley High." Then he bellowed, "Alright, we're going to be running laps today and see what you kids are made of. New kids first, since I already know some of the rest of your faces from last year. "Alice glanced at me from the corner of her eye, and I just began to mentally grin. _Yes! The only way that this could get any better would be if they made us spar. That would officially make my day._

"Trent, you go first! Start at the boys' changing room, and then run around the border of the gym as many times as you can. People! OFF THE WALLS!!"

Everyone stopped leaning against the walls staring at us all and walked to the middle of the gym as Demon walked over calmly to the gym doors.

"ON YOUR MARK! GET SET! GO!" Demon started running full speed, and in his mind I saw him begin to visualize Erasers behind him. As we all watched him, he sped up a little faster, and only Alice and I were able to see that his pupils dilated.

After he did 84 laps, Mira let out a little cough, and I couldn't help but to chuckle as I realized that she was trying to tell him, "Don't blow our effing cover, please!" Demon immediately began to slow down, and then came to a full stop at the end of the 86th lap.

"Very nice, Martinez! Alright, Monique, you're next!" Nudge, quite literally, shimmied over to the entrance to the boys' locker rooms. I let out a slight sigh, blowing my bangs upward. _Oh, Nudge._

At the coach's start, she ran for about 80 laps before she stopped, remembering that she was supposed to be a normal person, not a genetically enhanced bird girl.

Coach wrote down something into his log book and then called, "Miranda, you next!" Mira glowered a bit at the name that had quite obviously been chosen for her not of her own will, but walked over and repeated the cycle, only going up to 80 laps just like Nudge had. _Very precise there, Mira._

Coach wrote that down, and then called Alice to go. She completed only sixty nine laps, and I saw some of the people let out a sigh of relief. Peeking into their minds, I realized that they were happy that not all the new kids were completely wonderful at everything.

_Hah! If only they knew that I still can't listen to instructions that anyone gives me…_

Spalding yelled out my name last, which was a bit pointless seeing as I was the last new kid to go and I was already on my way to the starting place.

"On your mark! Get set! Go!" I started sprinting, still holding myself back, but noticeably faster than Demon and the others had been. I zoned out, still caught up in my new plan to murder all the perverts who were staring at my butt as I ran by. By the time that I got back from my bloody little fantasy, I peeked into Alice's mind and saw that I had passed Nudge and Mira's stopping points, and was now fast approaching Demon's end of laps. Despite Alice's warnings, I smiled a bit to myself, and kept going strong as I rounded the corner for lap 85.

I risked a quick glance at the room as I passed by the locker room for lap number 86. Demon looked as if he was trying to decipher the inner workings of my brain and figure out how the hell I was still going strong at this point, and then Alice sent me another huge warning look. Once again, I ignored her as I passed the boys' locker room for the beginning of lap 87. There was a collective intake of breath as I smirked a little to myself, slowing down a little as I finally stopped completely at 92 laps.

I calmly and practically silently walked back over to Alice's side, and ignored the entire class, who was staring at me. Nudge shot me a small smile, although her brain was filled with "WTF?!"s. I didn't even bother glancing at Demon or Mira, knowing that they would both be staring at me like I was some sort of ancient crossword puzzle. So I just stared at Spalding, waiting for the next set of instructions as to what I was supposed to do.

He stared at me openly for a few more seconds, and it was only when I quirked an eyebrow in meaning of the word "What?" that he finally found his voice again. "Umm, since that took longer than I thought, and you only have 8 minutes left in class, we'll just leave it at that. Class dismissed." And then he retreated into his office, his squeaky sneakers being the only source of sound other than the breathing of the rest of the class.

Thankful that I could get out of this sorry excuse for a pair of school shorts --_This is what hookers wear!_--, I immediately turned around to go back to the locker room, brushing against Demon's shoulder as I passed by. Just as a little extra prompt, I focused a large bit of heat onto his shoulder where I touched, then cooled it down as soon as I had fully passed him. The crowd parted ways again for me as I walked back to the locker rooms to change.

Having successfully avoided the questioning glances of the rest of my grade, I changed and made my way to my next class, American History. Emmett was waiting for me outside the door with Jasper. _Oh Jeebus, this can't end well… At least, for the teacher it can't…_

That class passed by rather quickly, although I had to try to successfully avoid the steady gaze of Iggy and Blaze as the class moved on. As soon as the bell rang, I gathered my stuff and all but ran out of the room and back to homeroom.

Which is where whatever higher power there is decided that today would be the day that someone would die?

"Hey there, sexy."

I don't think you really know how annoying it is to be referred to as such. I also don't think you know how hard I can punch. Unfortunately, neither did the pervert that was standing behind me trying to "sweet talk" me. I turned around, wishing like I had never before that Demon was here to make sure that the school didn't have to call the fire department on me.

He went as if the blatant look of "Run away before I kill you" on my face was an open invitation for him to continue. "What do you say you and me go on a date sometime later? And if you're good, I'll take you to my place." He said in an attempt to look sexy. _More like a half drowned cat. And that would be strikes one through seven. I don't know how Alice didn't see this asshole coming, but I will not blame her. Instead, I'm focusing on not causing a sudden volcanic eruption._

Trying to ignore the instinctual reflex to punch this idiot's lights out, I looked him dead in the eye, trying to make sure that there was a brain behind his eyes, and asked, "What's my name?"

He looked dazed, and then shook his head spastically. "Umm…"

"Yeah, I don't think so." I said, pushing past him to get to Bella, who was looking at me with pure humor and pride in her eyes.

We got outside, where Alice, Edward, and Jasper were all waiting for us, and I looked at Bella. "Just let it out."

Immediately, Bella and Alice laughed so hard that we nearly fell to the floor. _Oh, so now you remember me, Alice?_ Edward after reading Alice's mind, started cracking up, and Jasper was only on the floor in stitches because the rest of us were.

"That was beautiful, Val." Edward said, raising his hand for a high five. A bit hesitantly, I high fived him back.

And then Emmett and Rosalie came from the senior homeroom down the hallway, of course with Emmett bellowing "VALERIE!!"

I winced a bit at the volume, but turned to face Emmett nonetheless. "Yeah?" I asked, still a bit distracted seeing as I was trying to fit everything into my backpack.

"So, how was the first day?" He asked, leading me away from my locker by the arm after I had closed it, much to Rosalie's dislike. I shrugged, trying to tell myself at the same time that regular people put their arms around each other's shoulders. _Emmett is not trying to kill you. Calm down._

"More perverts. Gym's good. Actual classes okay. Meh," I managed to sum up everything that I thought of Wesley High School in about three sentences and an unintelligible noise. _Thank you, Fang, for teaching me the art of non- speaking._

We walked out of the school under the cover of the clouds and momentarily paused as we tried to spot the Jeep in the midst of the large crowd of people. Some other teenagers turned to look at us and then started to –_What the flip?_—take pictures of us on the front step. Looking into one guy's mind for a quick minute, I had to chuckle a little as I realized that this kid thought we had somehow managed to pull off a spy movie pose without having even done anything really to ourselves. _I can't believe these normal people. Honestly, the things they come up with on a regular basis…_

"Ah, there's Nessie," Jasper said to himself, although all of us heard him as Nessie came bounding across the parking lot, gaining about the entire high school's attention in the time frame of sixty seconds.

"Emmett!!! WE NEED TO GET HOME NOW!!" Nessie said, practically leaping onto Emmett and then proceeding to try to drag him all the way to the car. We were attracting more attention than ever now, and Demon was staring dead at me as we passed again. I continued to walk on by, putting a little more heat in his area again to give him a little clue. I saw Max stiffen and begin to stare at me as well, soon followed by the rest of my winged family. I chuckled to myself, thankful that by this time we were already at the car.

"Hey, Val, you need some he—" Edward tried to be polite and act as a gentleman by helping me into the Jeep, but before he could say anything, I had already pulled myself into the Jeep, taking one last minute to look out at the crowd. I made eye contact with Angel, and her eyes widened as I projected to her mentally, _Hey, Angel._

Her mouth dropping open was the last thing that I saw before I ducked down into the car and Emmett drove away. _And now, I wait._

_

* * *

_

_**AND THAT, MY FRIENDS, WAS THE END OF CHAPPY 29. It seems that now, Val has to play the waiting game. This will be fun for the rest of us, seeing as we all know how much Val just LOVES to wait for anything.**_

**_Reread as many times as you like, but seriously, review at least once! More times are loved greatly, and the reward is Fang. Shirtless. Thinking that you are Max. Or, for the guys, Rosalie Hale thinking that you are her Emmett._**

**_Oh, the joys of amnesia of your favorite gorgeous characters. REVIEW!!_**

**_Peace, love, and:-_**

**_Valesca: Question mark head tilt?_**

**_Olivia: Question mark head tilting the question mark head tilting?_**

**_Me: Question mark head tilting the question mark head tilting of the question mark head tilt?_**

**_-five second pause-_**

**_Val: Question mark?_**


	30. Two impatient birdies and a scheme

_**Ok, so this is the next chapter of DWF. And I am EXTREMELY SUPER AWESOMELY HAPPY, because SCHOOL IS OUT FOR ME!! WOOH!! -cabbage patches until the cows come home and Skittles31's mother and brother both have stared at the number for the insane asylum for so long that they have it memorized.- **_

**_OK, so I also have another little anouncement to make: If you happen to see the mysterious Care912, then please alert the media! Tie her to a nearby tree!! DO NOT LET HER OUT OF YOUR SIGHT!! She has dropped off the face of the Earth, and Moony, Tonks, and I are not able to find her. So Moony said, "PADFOOT! (That's me) WE ARE ON THE SEARCH FOR THE LEGENDARY PRONGS (That's Care912)!! WE MUST ALERT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC!!"_**

**_And so, we have been attempting to get in contact in all different ways with Care912; Muggle Communication Devices (MCDs, for short), Floo Powder, smoke signals, EVERYTHING!! But we can not seem to find her. So if you see her or ever get into contact with her, please alert me or Moony or Tonks IMMEDIATELY!!_**

**_Thank you. This has been a public service announcement._**

**_And now, ON WITH THE STORY!!_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own a lot of stuff. Like that piece of potato that I stole off of Care912's plate when she wasn't looking. Twilight and Maximum Ride are other examples of things that I don't own. -le sigh-_**

**_OH!! AND ANOTHER THING!! Please, somebody, ANYBODY!! read the story "A different sort of Lycanthropy" by Liquid Laughter. It's a James Potter and Lily Evans fanfic, for all the other lovers of that Harry Potter fanfic. IT'S AMAZING, and I honestly can't believe the little amount of reviews that she has gotten. SO READ AND REVIEW, FOR ALL THE FELLOW LOVERS OF THE JAMESxLILY pairing. Ok, that's all._**

**_And now, for real, ON WITH THE STORY!!_**

* * *

_**-Demon POV-**_

I spared another look at the McCarthy siblings' and the Whitlock siblings' empty table. Turning back around to join into the conversation, I couldn't help but let my mind wander as I stared out the window at the sunshine that finally decided to show up in this ever-cloudy town.

**And of course, the first day that it begins to show a chance of being at least a little less dreary, they disappear.**

I couldn't help but shoot another look at the empty table that belonged to the "supermodels", as Max had coined them. And then I realized just how much I hated waiting.

As soon as we had gotten back to the abandoned summer house we were crashing in for as long as our little school escapade lasted a week ago, I had approached Max and told her that I thought that we had finally found Val.

And then came the part of explaining to everyone that I had felt the surge of heat when Valerie McCarthy had passed by me, and having to convince everyone that I was not deluding myself into thinking that we had found Val just for my sake.

After I finished my very long argument, which I even had Nudge and Mira agree with me on at some points, Max had taken a while to consider it, and then sort of brushed me off, saying that, "Val doesn't look like that. You _know_ that. And even if that was her, I think that she would have sent us some sort of signal by now to let us know that she's still alive and not missing anymore."

I had tried to combat that point with saying how paranoid Valerie and Max both were. "You think she's going to just come out in the open and say, 'Oh, yeah, I'm back. I missed you, bird child siblings of mine'? This is _Valerie_ we're talking about. Valerie is going to analyze and re-analyze this situation to make sure that she wouldn't screw herself over into Itex's hands about a hundred times before she even thinks of approaching us to tell us it's really her."

Max just wouldn't listen to me. "And we're not about to just go reveal everything to some girl who we're not sure is really Valerie or not. Demon, give it a few more days to make sure that it's really her, and then we'll make a move when we're sure that this kid and all her other "siblings" aren't some Erasers in disguise or something."

And then she had ended the conversation, effectively leaving me with absolutely no way to convince her that it really was Valerie who had come back with those other McCarty people.

I scowled to myself, now glaring slightly out the window.

Max just didn't get it. I knew for a fact that Val was posing as Valerie McCarty, because I knew her exact walk, and that couldn't be replicated by any clone or other person. **Val's just unique like that.**

Max didn't get that this new Val was the real Val because she didn't know how Val smirked or the sound of Val's chuckle by heart.

Max couldn't figure out that Val was here because she didn't know that Val always crossed her arms and tilted her head slightly to the right when she was daydreaming. If she had her head tilted to the left, then she was devising a scheme.

Max couldn't see that Val was here because she, unlike me, didn't know that when Val didn't show emotion, you could always tell that she was annoyed when she started to lightly tap her foot. She was pissed when you could hear the actually noises of her foot hitting the ground.

Max couldn't figure out that Val was here because she didn't know that when Val makes eye contact with you and then looks away, she's thinking intensely of something involving you. **Like she has been doing with anyone at our table ever since she walked in here.**

Max didn't get that Valerie was here because Max didn't know the little signs by heart like I did. Which is why it was torture to look at Valerie, the _real,_ kick-ass, my best friend Valerie, and not be able to talk to her, hug her, smack her, or do SOMETHING to let her know that we were still here and we hadn't forgotten her.

I snarled lightly in my throat as the sun landed on the McCarty table again, and stabbed my food with a fork.

**If Max doesn't do something soon, I swear I will.**

* * *

_**-Valerie POV-**_

I inhaled another breath of unneeded air and started another round against the punching bag. In the corner of the room, Alice was sitting quietly, doodling on her notepad again.

I unleashed all my emotions onto the poor unfortunate object of my attention, and as I danced around the punching bag, throwing more punches and firing more kicks, I realized just how much I hated waiting.

It had been a week, and Max and the rest of my avian family had still yet to send me some sort of message saying "Oh, yes, we realize that you are you and we are coming after you now!" I mean, I get that Max is as paranoid as I am, but seriously, she also knows that I hate waiting almost as much as I hate Itex. _What the hell is taking her so long?_

I spun around in a sudden surge of impatience and managed to snap the punching bag straight off the chain and into the wall. I sighed out the corner of my mouth, my bangs flying upwards into the air. _Crap, Esme's gonna have a cow._

Alice calmly looked up from her sketchpad and said, "I could have told you that that was going to happen."

I growled at her. "Then why didn't you?"

She smiled, that know-it-all smile that was _really_ beginning to get on my nerves. "Because you had to let out steam, and I was not getting in your way. No offense, Val, but you're drop dead scary when you're angry."

I pursed my lips, trying to hold back a smile. _Well, at least she knows me well enough by now to know that._ Deciding that that was about as much sparring as I was going to get done for the day, I walked back upstairs to where Emmett and Kami were sitting in front of the TV. Kayda was forcing Emmett to watch Chowder with her, and I passed them on my way out, hearing her musical laughter trail behind me in my wake.

Walking out the front doorway, I snapped open my wings and took off for the first time in what seemed like years. I hadn't flown since I had begun staying with the McCarthys, and I was getting even more restless than usual because my wings were cramping up. I flapped twice, managing to rise up above the forest trees within seconds. I outstretched my arms like a little kid, pushing the fact that I was stuck like a trapped mouse in a maze to the back of my mind, and just enjoying the feel of being back in the air.

After doing some random aerial maneuvers and then flying around aimlessly for a few hours- _I must look like some sort of glittering diamond in the sky_- I turned around and touched down in the Cullen front yard, where Leah was looking up into the sky.

Leah and I had forged a somewhat sturdy relationship. I was pretty much the only "leech" that she could get along with for multiple reasons.

One: I didn't smell as bad as the other vampires, which I thought was due to my being part bird.

Two: I didn't "try to be all nice and perfect like the others," in Leah's words. Apparently, my sarcastic, "Don't screw with me" attitude had convinced Leah that I was a pretty decent person.

Three: I was the one who was the most real, and the most like her. Leah and I both had some very similar personality traits. She had recognized after my forced- telling everyone that I was part bird that I had been through a lot. My past was just as horrible as hers was, although we suffered in different ways: She lost her first love to her best friend/ cousin and then she also lost what was becoming her next best friend to imprinting, while I was forced into becoming a freak of nature and growing up being treated like a science experiment. She became the first female werewolf, unable to have kids or be like a regular woman, and I was tormented with the pain that came with using too much fire at once.

So Leah and I had created a bond over the fact that we were both pretty broken people with no way to fix ourselves. She never brought up anything about my being a winged vampire freak, and I never read her mind but always blocked it from Edward. It was our way of respecting each other's privacy. In a way, she was the closest thing that I had to a blood relative twin.

You know, despite the fact that she was older and had Quileute blood and was a werewolf.

"What?" I asked, dropping down cross-legged on the floor as I set to preening my feathers. I hated the fact that bugs and pebbles somehow managed to lodge themselves into my wings; it was easily the most annoying thing about being a winged teenage girl.

Leah sat down beside me, still looking up at the sky. After a few moments of silence, she opened her mouth. "What's it like to fly?"

I turned to look at her for a few seconds, and then turned back to my other wing. "It's sort of like… cliff diving. Or running through the forest as fast as you can. That feeling of complete euphoria, mixed with being in complete control of what you're doing. It's the ultimate release."

Leah turned to me. "And the adrenaline rush?"

I leaned back onto my elbows, looking up into the sky. I smirked a little. "Amazing. Especially when you're dive bombing. It's the feeling of "Oh, sweet bird children, I'm going to hit the ground and go 'Splat!' Why the hell am I not whipping out my wings?!'" And then you wait until you're maybe ten feet from the tree tops or being seen and _**then**_ you whip your wings. It's the best feeling in the world."

We were both silent for a few moments, and then I started talking again. "Weren't you supposed to be patrolling with Jake?"

She stiffened, and I stopped myself from trying to figure out why. "Yeah, but he got Seth to go with him instead."

I nodded, and I knew that Leah knew that I didn't believe a word of that excuse and was only dropping it because I was a good person. Otherwise I would have kept pestering her.

After a few more minutes, we heard a howl coming from the forest. Leah nodded at me, turning to run into the forest, and then I heard after a few seconds an answering howl.

I stayed outside, feeling myself sparkle in the sunlight. Unwillingly, my mind wandered back to Max and the others, and I frowned. _If Max doesn't do something soon, I swear I will._

* * *

_**-Alice POV-**_

I kept sketching my drawing from before, now walking into the living room and seating myself in front of the window. I glanced around the room at Emmett and Kami, who were now sitting in front of the TV watching SpongeBob SquarePants. Then I glanced out the window to where Valerie was laying peacefully.

**She would look so pretty if she would just wear some of the clothes that I got her instead of jeans and a T-shirt every day. Rose and I should give her a makeover, just so that she gets a guys and isn't so lonely anymore….**

Outside, Valerie shot up from her lounging position and looked through the window, giving me a dirty glare that easily said, "Don't you dare."

I sighed, rolling my eyes, and turned back to my new family portrait picture when I got a vision.

* * *

_-Vision-_

_Valerie started to run into the arms of one of the other new kids, the black haired green-eyed one that she had had the face conversation with, and was easily lifted right off her feet into the air. They started to talk excitedly to each other, and the way that they looked at each other, it almost seemed like maybe Val didn't really mind being lonely all that much seeing as she had this guy in her corner._

_Then a bunch of other school kids came by and Val disappeared in the mob, along with what looked like her boyfriend._

_It got fuzzy for a few moments and then the image came back, this time with Valerie and that same kid from before sitting in front of the couch in the living room. She was lying across his lap facing the TV, and his hands were stroking her hair lightly as they watched some movie. _**Are they together?**

_-End Vision-_

* * *

Okay, so she was going to stop being so restless in a few days time, thank gosh. **A restless Valerie is almost as bad as the regular secretive Valerie.**

The only part that I wasn't exactly sure about was the second part of the vision with Valerie and the other kid. That picture had been a bit fuzzy, but I realized that it probably meant that we and the Martinezes were going to get along pretty well. Although when that was going to happen was still unclear.

I looked down at my piece of paper and finished the final bit of shading. I sat back and smiled, looking at the updated picture of our family, now including a somewhat closed off looking Valerie and an uninterested looking Leah turned towards each other, Kami running around in front of the house, and Jake and Seth playfully wrestling with each other in the background.

* * *

_**-Unknown POV-**_

I hurriedly walked down the cobblestone alleyway, trying to make it to the Volturi's office before he held another grand tour of the palace from which no one would ever return.

I kept my head down as another passerby gave me an odd stare. I was the only person in the immediate area who was wearing their hood up, as well as gloves and sunglasses and clothes that covered as much skin as possible. In Volterra, it was summer, so everyone was wearing as little clothing as possible.

Finally, I managed to navigate my way to the entrance of the Volturi palace. Taking a moment to collect my thoughts, I calmed my nerves and walked in. The new human receptionist calmly looked into my red eyes and said, "Do you have an appointment?"

I nodded. "It's urgent." She nodded, calling into her headpiece, "Jane, someone is here for Aro."

After a few moments, Jane waltzed into the reception room, giving the human a cool glance. Then she turned to me, "You have news for Master Aro?"

I nodded a little apprehensively, and she smiled brightly at me. **Somehow that doesn't make me feel any better.** "Good!" Then she started to walk back the way she came. "Come on, then."

I followed behind her, taking care not to make eye contact with any of the vampires that I passed.

Finally we reached the conference room. "Ah, Katherine, my child, you have come back! Successful, I hope," Aro said joyfully, getting up to welcome me.

I bowed down to show my respect. "Master Aro, I have more news about the Cullens."

Aro waved his arm, signaling that I could stand up straight again, and then waved me on. Marcus shifted a bit in his seat, and Caius blinked. I took that to mean that they were both listening as well.

I continued. "The Cullens have added one to their ranks. Her name is Valerie, and she has abilities as well. However, she has not shown any outward signs yet as to what those are. I wanted to report that to you before I proceeded with anything else."

As I finished, I heard Aro's intake of breath. "They have another member?" He asked, his tone of voice angrier than I had ever heard.

I didn't dare to speak, not wanting to be the object of his anger. He continued without anyone having responded to his question. "Well, we need to keep an eye on the Cullen family and their new member, just to make sure that nothing goes wrong with her. Thank you, Katherine. You may return to your post in Canada."

I walked out of the conference room, happy to get back to North America- no matter how cold it was- and out of that room. **Aro's anger is nothing that I want to be the target of. **

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_**Cause the ruler's not working**_---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**_And so, how did you like it? That little bit at the end came to me when I was about to post it. And then I had a rather large "NOOOOOOOOOO!!" moment, nearly spazzed myself off the couch, and then proceeded to look around to make sure that no one had seen me. WHICH THEY HADN'T!!_**

**_Oh, yeah! Padfoot scores!!_**

**_Anyway, REVIEW!! OR I FIND A WAY TO INFILTRATE YOUR HEAD!! AND THEN.... well, you'll see. -insert creepy smile here-_**

**_TOJDGLE DUECE!!! Which is Skittles31 for "BYE!!"_**

**_Peace, love, and:_**

**_Bugs (my brother): "Grandma, do you need some more medication?"_**

**_a.k.a. Skittles31_**


	31. THE REALLY CUTE REUNION SCENE!

_**I AM BACK!! AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I have just realized that the last time that I updated was in December of last year, so this is a SPECIAL FIRST UPDATE OF 2010!! WOOOH!! -fist pump-**_

**_And also, I had to get this chapter out, because next week is exams and I won't have anytime to update during that week. And I didn't want any people wondering "Yo Skittles! Why the heck haven't you updated?" (That is my impersonation of one of my also addicted-to-fanfiction friends who follows my story like baby ducks follow their mommy.)_**

**_SO, without much further ado, here is... THE DISCLAIMER!! Haha, you thought I was going to say the chapter, right? WRONG!! I am unpredictable like that._**

**_Disclaimer: -Skittles31 calls to the lawyer working at the desk behind her- "ANY LUCK YET?" _**

**_-lawyer shakes his head "no"- _**

**_"CHIZBUCKET!! WORK FASTER, MAN!! WE NEED TO GET THOSE LEGAL RIGHTS!!"_**

**_-lawyer begins to type even faster on his little keyboard- _**

**_Okay, so no luck there.... but one day..._**

**_And now, ON WITH THE STORY!!!_**

* * *

_**-Val POV-**_

_Are you there, Satan? It's me, Valerie. I was just wondering how long are planning on screwing around with my life. Because this is just cruel and unusual punishment._

Currently, I was sitting in Algebra class (which I had walked in about seven minutes late to thanks to Alice attempting to stick me in some Barbie- like top that she had bought for me- _What the hell is wrong with that girl?_-, resulting in all of the vampires who went to school being late and the teacher giving me a death glare for the first five minutes after I had sat down). I was being forced to _learn_. Sitting next to me was my best friend, who thought that I was really me, but couldn't say anything to me on the account that Max had told him not to. _What kind of fresh hell is this?_

Oh, and to add on to the giant pile of cow-crap that was quickly becoming my life, the teacher, Mr. What's-His-Face-- _Like I really gave two donkeys._—was thinking some not so innocent thoughts about me, even though I was sitting all the way at the back of the classroom. _Would someone please shoot me already?_

And now for my list of internal complaints against the establishment:

_First off_, I had never even thought of going to school in the _first_ place._** Ever**_. _Second_, since when was I even **remotely** interested in learning _anything _that wouldn't help me blow up Flyboys? Third, who had the stupid-as-all-hell idea was it to make sure that Demon and I sat next to each other in class when _I can't even speak to him_?! _Does no one understand how much restraint and self control I am using right now to not acknowledge him?! The next time that I see Max, I am roasting her skinny winged ass over the fire!!_

And fourth, why did _I_ have to be stuck in the _**one**_ class with _**the most perverted teacher in the entire school**_?! _This couldn't have happened to Rosalie!? The attention would have made her so happy!_

I clenched my fists, nearly succeeding in breaking my pen in half and causing it to fly across the room. Either way, my foot started to bounce up and down again, and I caused some of the paper in the trash can to start to smolder. _Aw, chiz. As if I didn't have enough to deal with. Now I need to calm myself down before anyone starts asking questions._

Some random kid in the front of the classroom then jumped up, yelling, "THE TRASH IS ON FIRE!!" _Well, thank you for stating the obvious, oh smart one. Would you like the Nobel Peace Prize for your ground breaking discovery?!_

If I didn't stop soon, I was going to have my face set in a permanent scowl for the rest of my existence.

Before I could focus on inner peace and all that wonderful stuff, I felt a hand on the small of my back. "Haze, you have to calm down before we end up having to call the fire department," a familiar voice calmly whispered in my ear, his breath hitting my ear gently.

I froze, trying to remind myself to breath. _Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exh—Yeah, that isn't doing me any good…_ I slowly turned to half face Demon, and I couldn't help smiling in return when I saw the half grin that had spread across his face. With everyone jumping around the place looking for a fire extinguisher and sufficiently distracted, I couldn't help myself; I caused another small flame to go up from the trash can, just to make sure that everyone was still focused on the front of the classroom, as opposed to watching Demon and my almost reunion in the back.

I tried to keep my state of exterior coolness while my brain was going around in circles screaming "HE'S BACK!! HE'S BACK!!" I toned my grin down to a smirk. "Oh well. Too bad for the school. It's not like I wanted to go in the first place."

Demon rolled his eyes. "Haze, even if you don't like the school, you can't just blow it up. It doesn't work like that."

I narrowed my eyes at him, vaguely realizing that the teacher had gotten the fire extinguisher and was now crazily spraying the trash can to put out the flames that were dancing on the top layer of garbage. "Who says?"

"I do! It's not right!" Demon said, his arms flailing a bit to emphasize the point. _Sigh. He always was the more morally conscious one…_

I crossed my arms over my chest. "That's not what you said when we blew up Itex…"

Demon chuckled. "Different situation. You didn't end up blowing up Niara, did you?"

I sighed. "That was only because you wouldn't let me," I muttered to myself, but still loud enough so that he could hear it.

Now Demon was literally vibrating from the force of his chuckles, and I couldn't help but to start to smirk again. As I realized that his hand was still on the small of my back, something flew down my spine and curled into my stomach, curling up there like a cat.

And then, while he was still chuckling, I realized something. "You do know that Max is going to kill you, right?"

Finally, he moved his hand from my back, and I relaxed. _What the hell was that?_ He shrugged. "Oh well. I can probably get Fang to hold her back for me."

I opened my mouth to speak, when suddenly Mr. Perverted Teacher Man called me out. "Ms. McCarthy, is there something that you and Mr. Martinez would like to share with the rest of us?"

I opened my mouth, ready to shoot back some smart answer. I also tried to hold back some chuckles, because it is just so funny when adults try to assert themselves as the authority over me.

Unfortunately, Demon knew me well enough to have analyzed the situation and have seen what was coming up next. He poked me in the side, while simultaneously yelling out a million warnings in his head, and just for his sake I bit back the smart-ass comment that would have made its appearance had Demon not interfered.

"Oh no, Sir. Nothing at all," I said, a fake smile plastered on my face. Mr. Pervert Teacher Man looked between Demon and I for a few more seconds, narrowing his eyes. I bit my lip while Demon's constant "Poke Val in the side to remind her that arson is still a crime" routine began to really get on my last nerve.

Finally, Mr. Pervert Teacher Man- whose name I finally remember is Mr. Foley- turned back to the board and started to teach the class again. When I was sure that he was fully engrossed in his lesson, I turned back to Demon.

"One of these days, you're going to realize that it is pointless for you to try to stop me from making smart ass comments to people. You're only prolonging the inevitable," I whispered to him, making sure that Foley didn't turn around.

Demon was silent for a little while, and then he finally chuckled a bit darkly. "Yeah, I know. But someday I'm hoping that you might end up listening to someone as opposed to trying to shoot them down with some sort of smart comment." _I no longer like the way that this conversation is going._

There was a long pause, during which I learned that apparently, there is a way to determine if one line in a triangle is longer than another opposite the original line. After that had passed by, Demon finally started talking again. "You know, I really should kill you for doing this to me. I'm going to go prematurely bald if you keep doing this to me."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Don't feel so special. That happens with everyone who comes into contact with me for long concentrated periods of time."

Demon growled. "You see! This is what I'm talking about. Va—"

"Shh!! Mr. Teacher Man is looking back here," I said, not wanting to continue this conversation. Yes, I was aware that I had flaws. That sure as hell did not mean that I liked to hear them.

Demon put his head in his hands, and I thought that I had gotten off free. Pretty stupid of me, seeing as Demon had grown up with me and if anything he knew how to handle my attempts at avoiding things. After about five minutes, after we had both gone back to almost paying attention to what Foley had to say, Demon spoke again. "You had better tell me everything."

I nodded slightly, only enough for Demon to see. "We're getting out of school for the rest of the day, though. I honestly can't stand it here."

"Fine."

* * *

_**-45 Minutes Later-**_

"Umm, Ms. Gordon? Something's wrong with Valerie," Demon said, half supporting my body weight as he almost carried me into the nurse's office.

I moaned, trying to speak. "I'm fine, Trent, would you j- oh fridge monkeys, my head hurts…" I trailed off, and Demon lifted me fully into his arms bridal style as I collapsed against the wall.

Ms. Gordon was a slim woman in about her mid thirties, with brown frizzy hair and a slim pair of glasses on her nose. She immediately jumped up from where she was sitting reading a magazine when she realized that Demon "needed help". "Oh my! Well, we'll just get a good look at her and have her all fixed up in no time. I'm sure that it's nothing too serious."

Demon laid me down on the little bed that she had in her office, and when she had her back turned looking for a thermometer he smirked at me. **You have a problem if you're able to lie that well and that easily.**

I sat up a little, holding my head in one hand and pushing myself up with the other. "Sorry about this, Trent."

He shrugged, keeping in character very well. _Huh. Now I remember why we got away with murder when we were younger. And that may have influenced Gina's "Terrible Twosome" theory…_

"No problem. It's just that I wasn't expecting you to drop like that," Demon said, shutting up when Ms. Gordon turned back to me, sticking a thermometer in my mouth. I immediately amped up my internal temperature a little more than when Demon was carrying me. After about a minute, she took the annoying plastic stick out of my mouth, and I resisted the urge to make a face. Either way, when she read the thermometer, her reaction was exactly what Demon and I had been going for.

"Oh my! Ms. McCarthy, is it? Well, Ms. McCarthy, you need to go home as soon as possible. You are a full seven degrees above normal! You need to rest as soon as possible! And drink plenty of fluids, too." She turned to Demon, clasping his hands in hers. "Young man, thank you for getting her in here so qui—Oh my! You're burning up too! Sit down, sit down!"

_Does this woman's voice ever come down from that frequency?_

Demon sat down on the edge of my cot, and immediately the nurse stuck another thermometer in his mouth. I almost laughed at how wide her eyes got when she looked at the temperature reading after a few moments.

"Mr. Martinez, you have to go home as well. This is absurd!! Honestly, what are they feeding you kids that you're all burning up like meteors? But at any rate, both of you gather your things and go home. I'll write an excuse for your both of your teachers as to why you aren't in class for the rest of the day."

Demon hopped off the cot and I stumbled off, immediately into his arms. I pressed my palms against my forehead, rubbing them gently. Demon looked at me with almost genuine concern in his eyes. "Can you walk on your own?"

I nodded my head slightly, and the nurse literally jumped and squeaked, "I almost forgot! Here, dear, take some Advil for the headache." I took the cup and the pill that she magically produced from her and incinerated them as soon as them had hit my tongue. Slowly, I let the air out of my mouth, making sure not to draw any attention to the fact that I suddenly looked like I was smoking.

The nurse went back to her desk, looking at us worriedly as we passed by to get the rest of our stuff before we went home.

As soon as we had turned the corner in the hallway, I stopped clutching my head and started walking regularly. Demon looped his arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer to him as we walked. "And now you need to tell me the whole story."

I nodded, stopping outside my locker to grab some of the rest of the books that I needed for the rest of my classes for later. I threw them in my messenger bag and slammed the locker shut, leaning against it. "Yeah, yeah. We just need to get out of this hell hole first so that I can breathe."

We made another stop at Demon's locker before we finally left the school. "You would think that she would have thought to get someone out of the classes to drive us both home or something," Demon said to himself, although what with the vampire hearing it wasn't exactly "to himself" anymore.

I cut Demon an under-the-eye look, clearly saying, "Are you stupid or something?" I walked across the parking lot and turned the corner into another alleyway. Checking to make sure that Demon was still with me, I took off, heading for the nearest set of dense trees.

After we had flown for a while, I finally spotted a thick enough forest for us to talk in. Waving my hand in the air to catch D's attention, I started the descent to the forest floor.

As soon as we had touched down, I turned to face Demon, and we were immediately in each others arms. I inhaled the scent of spearmint and the wind and red velvet cake, and I couldn't help the absolutely giddy smile that took over my face. Demon's arms were wrapped around my ribcage, and I felt him squeeze me a little and tuck my head under his chin. Something pressed against the top of my head, and I burrowed ever further into his chest. We did that awkward twisting thing that people seem to do when they hug for a really long time, and if you asked me how long we stayed like that, I don't think that I could tell you if I tried. Finally, reluctantly, we pulled away from each other, that stupid-looking giddy grin still intact on my face.

Demon pulled me over to a tree trunk and stretched out in front of it, his arm pillowing his head. I sat beside him, eventually ending up with my head on his chest and my body stretched out beside him. It was like back when we were 10 and we used to sneak out to look at the stars. And then we'd have to make sure that Gina didn't find us, because usually we had something important to do the next day. _I miss that._

We looked up in silence at the canopy the treetops made above our heads, and then Demon, once again, broke the silence.

"So, what happened?"

"I went for a fly after Mira had come into the room to talk to me. I was figuring out that I could use fire to propel myself forward even faster when I fly when a horde of Flyboys met me somewhere over Montana. I hadn't realized that I had gotten so far, and then I realized that the Flyboys were flame- proof too late. I had been hit a few times before that, and then another blow took me out of the sky. They managed to shoot me with something before I went down- I still don't know what that was- and when I regained consciousness, I was in a house surrounded by the McCarthys and the Hales. They were all asking questions about where I had come from, how I had fallen from the sky, why I was covered in blood, and then somehow I got a message to Gina because I could hear her mind although it was nowhere near where I was. I told her that I was being held hostage by crazy people in Montana somewhere and she gave you that message. And then since there is _literally_ no privacy in the house, Alice barged in and saw my wings while I didn't have them in. Had to explain that, although I barely gave them anything to work with. And then they were already in the process of moving, and since I had no clue as to where you where in America, I moved with them to Canada, where they were moving to before I had successfully interrupted their everyday life. I told that to Gina in the mental message too. Then Esme, the mother, put me in school saying that if I wanted to find whoever I was looking for, then I had to actually venture outside of the house. And so, went to the first floor of hell with the other kids, and found you guys again. Any questions?" I said, not taking a single breath throughout the entire explanation.

Demon processed what I had said, and then asked me the one question that I had been hoping never would have reached the light of day. "What is it with you and not listening to anyone?"

I opened my mouth to shoot something back at him, and Demon kept talking. "Val, let me finish. We could have avoided all of this had you just listened to me and told me where you were going in the first place. But you have this sort of complex where you don't listen to anyone!"

For the next few minutes while Demon wasted his breath I stared up at the canopy the trees made over our heads. _Honestly, I don't get why the hell he even tries anymore. _

Demon-conscience reappeared in my head. _Because someone needs to pound it into your head that people worry about us._

I mentally frowned. _Hush it, you. Oh, sweet mother of baby Li'l Wayne's llama, I'm talking to myself._

"-And you really need to stop tuning me out!" Demon finished, yanking on my hair to get my attention again.

I sighed. "Demon?"

"Yes?" His exasperated voice answered me, and I turned over onto my stomach to look at him.

"Quit trying. It's not going to work anytime soon," I said, rolling back over onto my back and snuggling into his side.

Demon sighed out loud again. "Honestly, I don't know why I even try anymore…How are they?"

_Alice has a major problem with clothes and fashion. She and Nessie are trying to convert me to the dark side of her closet. Nessie has been trying to get me to cooperate with her and actually say something that would be considered a full sentence when it comes to the Flock. Rosalie hates me with a burning passion. Emmett thinks that me being a hybrid is the coolest thing that he has ever seen. Edward has a problem with reading my mind, and Carlisle is trying to analyze me unsuccessfully with his mind. Esme is filling in the role of my mother and I think that I can honestly say that I like Jasper and Bella the most as my new siblings because one, Jasper gets me, and the only reason that he gets me is because he can read emotions; and two, Bella doesn't try to get me to talk or step outside my comfort zone. Leah and I have pretty much become the best of friends, and Jake and Seth I don't really talk to that much. So overall, my life is tipping a lot toward the "crappy" side of the scale._

"Fine."

* * *

_**-5 Hours Later-**_

"Demon, you have to wake up," I said, whispering to him in his sleep as I came out of my daydream to realize that night had fallen. It was about 6 o'clock now, and I had to get him home before Fang and Max had aneurisms.

He turned over, almost squishing me under his weight, still breathing lightly. "Oh, come on!"

I briefly thought of lighting his pants on fire, until Inner Demon managed to talk me out of it.

_On the count of three….three._ I rolled Demon off of me roughly simultaneously succeeding in getting him to jump up onto his feet, ready to fight.

He looked around, resembling a startled animal, and then said, "Wait. This isn't the back of a semi …"

I rolled my eyes. "We have to go back before your brother and his girlfriend die of worry. It's about 6. We've been out here for about five and a half hours."

Demon nodded, blinking a few more times to make sure that he was really awake. After he had gotten his book bag onto his back without hurting his wings, he took a running start and leaped into the air with me following suit.

When Wesley was in sight again, Demon called to me over the wind. "I have to go this way to get to the beach house. I'll see you tomorrow."

I glided over and hugged him one more time- although this was a bit more awkward seeing as we were also trying not to fall out of the sky. I couldn't get that soft smile that took over my face when he hugged me to go away, even after I had landed on my front lawn fifteen minutes later.

I opened the door, and immediately I was the source of the attention of everyone in the room.

Alice was the first one to talk. "So, how was it?"

I smiled at her, my first real genuine smile ever in this house. I picked up Kami, who was sitting on the couch and turned to go into the kitchen. "Wonderful."

_And, I sound like a sap on top of it. Today has been a pretty good day._

_

* * *

_

_**OK, read and reread this over as many times as you want for the next few days, because I actually have to really study for my exams now. I LOVE YOU ALL!! TOJDGLE DEUSE!! (Skittles31-ese for goodbye)**_

**_Peace, love, and "Oh! That was the time when Carrie turned into the 301 hobo and we put her up for sale",_**

**_Skittles31_**


	32. EMMETT, HUSH YO FACE! Iggy lessons for D

**_I'M NOT DEAD!! DON'T KILL ME!! THAT WOULD BE POINTLESS!!_**

**_Ok, so HI!! Yes, I'm still alive!! And I am updating!! I know, shock horror! Jeebus, don't faint!! I can't pay for all of your medical bills..._**

**_But, anyways, YES!! Exams are over!! I got grades back!! I surprisingly didn't fail Bio (possibly the best thing that I'd heard all that week)!! And then I went back to writing... The only problem was that after I finished exams, it sort of took a while to remember what my idea for the next chapter had been, seeing as studying for my exams had pretty brainwashed me so that the only things running through my head were stuff like: "N-SW-F-D!!" (My attempts at learning European geography); "Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived..." (My way of remembering the order of King Henry the Eighth's wives (damn player...)); "Enzymes make the BOOM in less need of BOOM!!" (my attempt at remembering things about activation energy for biology), and other little random outbursts that got me a lot of strange looks on the train..._**

**_SO YES!! I am finally back in the right mindset for this story, and Carrie promptly told me that I needed to update otherwise she was going to kill me with her bare hands. Livibooks3 and leshawnaseville15 were also behind her in this, so I sort of stopped using my free periods wisely and sat there typing this story away... BE HAPPY!!_**

**_So, DISCLAIMER: ...And the sky is actually camomille tea, and I'm really Leah Clearwater who's preggers with Jake's baby, and my history teacher is actually sane, and I live in a shoe with my english teacher in the era of the novel 1984._**

**_Yeah, I didn't think so._**

_**And now, ON WITH THE STORY!!**_

* * *

_**-Val POV-**_

"So, I take it that he knows now," Edward said wryly, looking at the smile that had somewhat faded on my face, but still hadn't completely disappeared.

I was still holding Kami to me, and I couldn't stop re-running the day in my head. "What happened?" I was a little out of it.

Leah took over from Edward, and I noticed that for once she wasn't sitting next to Jake like she usually would. I made a mental note to ask her about that later when it was just the two of us, and if that didn't work, then I was going to just have to read her mind and figure out what the hell had happened between them. "What exactly did you tell him?" she cleared up, coming to sit next to my legs.

I sank to the floor, crossing my legs and letting Kami go. She immediately ran to stand behind me and started to play with my hair. "I rewrote the story a little bit so that he didn't think that I was crazy when I told him what had happened. He thinks that the Erasers injected me with something so that I look like this."

"And he believed you?" Seth asked.

I shrugged and nodded. "There's very little that they haven't tried to do to us. This falls within their boundaries."

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang," Emmett finished sheepishly after he saw the death glare that I sent him, reminding him that Kami was still in the room.

"Where did you guys go?" Nessie asked and Esme chuckled as she saw that Kami had started trying to braid my hair.

" Forest," I answered, noticing that Jasper was still blatantly staring at me like I had three heads. "Jasper, I'm not Alice."

Jasper snapped out of whatever strange trance he was in and said, "Sorry. But who did you go to see?"

I raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Demon. Why?"

Kami gasped from behind me and dropped the piece of hair that she was trying to braid. "Daddy's here!?"

I smiled, happy that I finally had an answer for her constant questions about when she would be able to see "Daddy" and the rest of her winged family. "Yup, and you get to see him tomorrow, okay, sweetie?"

The resounding squeal that I got from her was astounding, as I had not realized that her vocal chords could reach that high as yet. She almost tackled me from behind, squealing over and over, "Thank you!"After about 5 minutes of repetitive squealing, she went back to parting my hair randomly, but I could practically feel the happy aura coming off of her, and I sure as hell wasn't Jasper.

_Speaking of Jasper…_ "What were you saying, soldier man?"

Jasper seemed like my answer to his question would be the answer to why Rosalie was such a witch. That's how I knew that he was really determined to get the answer to this question. "What's your relationship with him?

I took a moment to really look at Jasper and try to figure out what the hell he was thinking that he was asking that question without actually reading his mind. "Best friend. Why?"

Jasper didn't seem to be put at ease by my answer. "Nothing. Just asking. Thought he was your brother, the way you talked about him."

I didn't even have to look at Jasper to know that he was lying. "Jasper, that was almost the perfect lie. Now tell the truth." I looked him in the eyes. "I love it when people try to lie to me. It's so amusing."

Jasper looked at me and said, "I was trying to put together why Kami called him Daddy if he wasn't really the biological father. And I thought that since you called you "Mom", I thought that you and Demon were dating or something."

I blinked at him twice, and then couldn't help it; I started laughing. Loudly and hysterically. After I managed to get somewhat back in control of myself, I told Jasper, "Demon and I were best friends since we were four. We aren't dating. We're just best friends."

That sounded wrong after I said it, but as it hung in the air, I ignored the feeling.

Emmett's face twisted into a grin, and I knew that something bad was coming up. I let out a little sigh under my breath, preparing myself for whatever he was going to throw at me. "Yes, Emmett?"

The grin got even bigger, and that sixth sense that has gotten me out of plenty of crappy situations before was telling me plainly to run away. "So, how did our Demon take this new you?"

Okay, I can honestly say that I'm really hard to surprise, what with the entire mind reading thing. Plus, the types of testing that they did on me at the Institute made me a lot more observant of everything, including people's whole personalities. But I can also honestly say that that question came flying like a bat out of heck out of _**nowhere**_.

I blinked three times, trying not to blatantly ask Emmett if he was a couple of fries short of a Happy Meal. "Sorry?"

I hadn't thought it possible, but Emmett's grin grew so big that I thought we could have easily wrapped it around both his head and Jake's head without any worries about stretching issues. _Wow, odd mental image…_

Edward's face was a mixture of curiosity and surprise, and I clearly saw the "What the hell?" message written all over it. "Valerie? Is it hard being you and handling your imagination?"

I realized that he was asking about my little grin-and-head-wrapping thought and said, "No, not really."

He nodded. "All right, then. Continue."

I turned back to Emmett. "Yes, Grizzly bear. Continue."

Seth stood up to translate. "I'll take it from here. Emmett means to say, "Oh, Val, don't be dense. He had to have noticed that you look like a flipping goddess. So, was he stunned into silence or did he try to jump you?" You're welcome." Seth then settled back down on the floor in front of the TV as if nothing had happened.

I blinked twice- _I seem to be doing that a lot lately…_- trying to process what the hell Seth had said. Finally, after getting over my shock, again, I went and did the default Valerie thing: walked over to Emmett, stared at him blankly, and then hit him upside the head hard enough that even Kami winced. _Mission complete._ "Because you obviously have no more brain cells left to lose, so…"

With that, I settled back down beside Leah, who was trying her hardest not to laugh. "And just so that you know, no, he didn't do either of those things. I would have incinerated him if he did."

Alice, who had been remarkably silent throughout the entire exchange, finally spoke up. "Oh, Val, Jasper's gonna teach you how to play the guitar."

I was thankful for the subject change, but still deeply internally confused. "He is?"

Alice nodded. "It'll be fun, and it'll be cool to know how to play. You practically _scream _"Bad-ass rebel chick with guitar", so you need to learn how to play."

_Aw, Alice, you flatter me._ "Fine," I said, happy with her assessment. "And thanks, I guess."

Alice just waved me off. "Meh. Just learn to play the guitar, and I'll stop trying to change your wardrobe for about a month." I realized that that was about as good as it was going to get with Alice, and just nodded.

Esme's motherly voice cut in, switching the focus of the conversation. "So, Valerie, now that you've found your family, are you going to just leave?"

My eyes snapped over to Esme's, because honestly, I hadn't even thought of that. She seemed genuinely upset by the question, as could be seen by her now worried- looking face.

I looked around the room calmly, taking each face into my memory… except for Rosalie's. I couldn't care less about her face. Then, I looked back at Esme. "Hn. Nah."

Everyone seemed really surprised, and I took the time to actually glance at Rosalie out of the corner of my eye. She looked pissed, and I smirked inwardly at managing to get her angry with just two words. _This could be an Olympic sport._

Turning back to everyone else, though, I realized that everyone was still surprised that I had managed to figure it all out in such a short period of time. "Umm, you're sure?" Carlisle questioned as I played with my Converse.

"Yup, sure. It'd be confusing to have to go through the switching over of documents. Plus, Max is stubborn and will need more convincing. And I'd have to come up with a believable lie for all the people who asked questions. And quite frankly, Kami'd miss you, and so would I," I said bluntly.

"…What?" Bella said, still not quite getting it apparently. In a way that would have made Demon proud, I managed to not lose my patience.

"Eh, most of you've grown on me," I summarized," and it'd be too troublesome to leave." As an afterthought, I added, "And I want to learn to play the guitar."

I wanted to crack up at how stunned everyone was that I wasn't taking a day to make this decision. But hey, when you're on the run, you tend to take information and sort it out faster than the average person, so you make decisions in seconds. It matters a lot when you're the leader of six other teenage mutant bird children, too.

Esme was the first to shake out of the initial shock, and she smiled at me. "All right. Good."

I smiled back at her, because honestly, Esme had become my surrogate mother in the past few months, and I liked the feeling of having someone who really thought of me as her daughter. But like hell I was going to say that out loud. I don't do mushy.

Edward rolled his eyes at my thoughts, and then started firing the next few questions at me. "So, did he already know that it was you?"

Everyone seemed generally intrigued by the question, and so I remained the center of attention. "Yeah."

Emmett, bless his tiny brain, didn't seem to get it. "What do you mean "yeah"? I don't get how he could have known that it was you. You look completely different compared to when you were human."

I continued to play with my Converse, tracing over the random doodles that I had done once when I was really bored. "He recognized my eyes. And my walk. And the look on my face when I had walked into the cafeteria that first day. Basically, we never had him fooled."

"But your eyes are different. And your walk changed. And plenty of people have that look on their face on a regular basis," Bella said, her brow furrowing. I looked up at the ceiling, blowing my bangs up into the air. It was difficult to describe the way that Demon and I communicated most of the time.

"Not what I mean. When we walked in, everyone's head snapped up and over to us. Demon was the only one who realized that I still walked the way that I did before all of this happened," I summarized, waving my hand down the length of my body to show what I meant.

"And how's that?" Carlisle asked, genuinely interested.

I looked at him confusedly and shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. You've seen me walk; you tell me."

"Could someone explain to me how the hell he recognized your eyes, Val?" Leah asked me, and I prepared myself for the long explanation that I was going to have to give.

"We talked in the cafeteria." _Huh, well that was easy. Now the only problem is that everyone looks more confused than before._

"Umm, Val? Not helping," Jasper threw into the conversation, and I sighed again.

"Remember when Alice threw herself across the table and then Demon made eye contact with me? That's when we started speaking." _This patience thing is beginning to wear off, so they had better have gotten it that time._

"….So, you guys can pretty much read each other's minds through your eyes?" Jake summarized, and I nodded.

"It's something that he had to pick up, seeing as I don't like speaking in long sentences in front of random people."

"How is it that you are going to see him tomorrow?" Nessie asked, and I had to remind myself that Alice had probably not told them all the details.

"The nurse thinks that I have some sort of almost life-threatening fever, so she told Demon and I to stay home tomorrow," I explained, and I couldn't help but grin in memory of the awesome plan that Demon and I had managed to put together to get out of school.

"Not fair! She has cool pyromaniac abilities, so she can pull something like that off!" Emmett was complaining about the unfairness of me being able to act my way out of school, and I rolled my eyes as I finally stood up, heading for my room.

"Shut up, Emmett. And now, I'm going to begin my vacation from school by sitting and listening to music for a good three hours. Bye," I said, and Leah trailed behind me as I dragged her up the stairs with Kami, effectively ending the "Valerie spotlight session" that had just taken place in the living room.

* * *

_**-Demon POV-**_

**Ok, so now I know never to disappear from school and not tell Max again.**

I was lying on the couch in front of the turned off TV while Max continued to rant as she paced in front of me. Fang was sitting on the arm of the couch with his arms crossed, watching as Max tried to make a hole in the carpet. **I think he's just there to intervene if she attacks me or anything.**

I tuned back into the one-sided Max conversation, and realized that she was finally winding down. "I really ought to kill you, you know? It would make things so much easier for me." She was finally finished, and not Max was full on glaring at me as she folded her arms across her chest.

"So, where were you?" Fang asked, cutting off the silence that had taken over the room. I could barely keep the smile off my face and answered back as straight as I could. "I was flying around in one of the forests near here."

Fang didn't say anything else to me after that question. All he did was give Max some sort of look, and she pointedly looked away from him, muttering, "Yeah, yeah. I heard you."

**Huh. Is that the way that Val and I are? Because then I can understand why Nudge wanted to kill us after seeing us do that for about 5 minutes straight….**

Fang got up and left the room- **You call yourself my brother?! Now your girlfriend will murder me, and it will be all over your hands! And then what will you say at my funeral?!**. Max turned to me and said, "You are so lucky that you have him as your brother…"

I couldn't help myself, I grinned up at her. "Max? Are you implying that you would like to be the sister of Fang? You do know that that would mean that you could not randomly kiss him or love him in _that _way or have little winged cherub children to make me the proud uncle, right?"

Max's mouth flopped open, and the "I am out for blood. If you value your life, do not even stand in the same room as me" look took over her face. I vaulted over the back of the couch, and began to run for my life.

"DEMON!! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!! AND THEN I'M GOING TO KILL IGGY TO MAKE SURE THAT NO ONE ELSE'S MIND IS CONTAMINATED LIKE THAT EVER AGAIN!" She started yelling, and as we passed through the kitchen, I looked back at her. She still had the massive blush covering her face, and I mentally thanked Val for telling me what buttons to push.

* * *

**_OKAY!! IMPORTANT SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS!!_**

**_1. REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!!_**

**_2. My darling best friend/ fellow author Leshawnaseville15 has written a story for Alvin and the Chipmunks called "You don't belong". My mind control says that you should go and read that story immediately..._**

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**_Peace, love, and:_**

Marin in spanish class: -looking at the tie that my Spanish teacher is wearing- Oh My Gosh! Rachel!! His tie matches my awesome bra!!

**_a.k.a. Skittles31_**


	33. A Circle of Life or Sketchy Old Women

_**HOLAS, MIS PEOPLES!!! I have managed not to keep you all waiting for an entire month for the next chapter. Wooh! -cabbage patches all around- You may thank "**__**The Jessamine Riot", who convinced me that it was not the right for me to spend the entire duration of a month in the company of martians while the rest of my faithful reviewers waited nearly ripping their hair out for the next chapter. She was also MY 200TH REVIEWER!! SO THANK YOU, THE JESSAMINE RIOT!!**_

**_SO, this chappy is dedicated to you!! Be happy!!_**

**_So, DISCLAIMER: Animal crackers in my soup,_**

**_Monkeys and rabbits loop the loop. _**

**_James Patterson won't give me rights,_**

**_So I cry through my sleepless nights._**

**_This song is the epitome of my non-ownage. As you can possibly tell, I am still out of my mind. HUZFLAH!!_**

**_And now, on with the story!!_**

* * *

_**-Val POV-**_

"MOMMY! MOMMY! MOMMY! MOMMY!" Kami was jumping up and down on my stomach as I attempted to decipher some more of the Institute papers for where the hell I had come from and if I wasn't just the result of some random test tube.

Finally, after her voice had reached its highest pitch and there was absolutely no way that I was going to be able to tune her out any longer, I finally set the papers down on the side of the bed table and sat up, sitting Kami down on my lap and looking her in the eyes. "You are very persistent, you know that? And I guess that you want to go see Daddy now, right?"

My response was an over enthusiastic head nod that sent her hair flying up and down all over the place. I sighed, knowing that she was not about to drop the subject anytime soon. "Okay, so since it's only seven thirty, and we're supposed to be meeting Daddy at nine, we'll start getting ready now, okay? We need to pick out your clothes, since you can't just go out in your pajamas."

With that, I set Kami back down on the bed and wandered over to the chest of drawers that Alice had filled with clothes for Kami. I pulled out some underwear, a random sweater, and some dark jeans and helped her change into her street clothes. After telling her that bouncing all over the place was not going to help me figure out how to get her shirt over her head, she was finally sufficiently dressed and I braided her hair back into a single braid neatly.

We traveled downstairs and got her some Coco Puffs for breakfast, looking up at the clock and seeing that we had a little more than a half an hour to get to the meeting point, which was supposed to be on the outskirts of the town so long as no one saw us. After hurrying Kami along and grabbing both of our coats with a quick "Good-bye" to Esme, we walked out of the house. I immediately grabbed Kami into my arms and took off.

We got to town in about 5 minutes, and we were sitting on one of the billboard signs waiting for Demon to get there when I finally saw him getting bigger on the horizon. Kami, as soon as her human eyes could see him, she yelled, "DADDY!!"

I couldn't help but chuckle a bit to myself as I saw Demon falter in his wing strokes and then catch himself as he realized that yes, it was his adoptive daughter calling to him from atop an advertisement for Geico with a large wad of money with eyeballs. He surged forward, and Kami held her arms out eagerly as he finally reached her and immediately scooped her up into his arms. "DADDY!"

Demon flew around for a few more minutes with Kami squealing in his arms, and I watched the scene with a swell of pride in my chest. I had a sudden flashback (that was strangely clear for a memory of when I was still part human and not part vamp) of when we had first found Kami in the alleyway. I smiled slightly nostalgically as the memory replayed itself in my head.

* * *

_**-Memory-**_

"_Val, Gina's gonna kill us if we take longer than we need to. We should go back now," Demon said, seeming a little worried as we roof hopped in the shadows of town with some of our new supplies in our backpacks._

_I rolled my eyes, opting to land in a nearby alleyway. Needless to say, Demon followed me, stopping when Eleven-year-old-me stopped. "We're just exploring a little bit, D. Calm down! You'll get stress lines on your face."_

_I walked out of the alleyway with my hands in my pockets and my head held high. I liked Chicago. It had loads of little hiding places, and it was nice to look at when it was nighttime. Plus, the clouds made a really good cover for whenever we flew._

_Demon was quick to fall into step beside me and make sure that he didn't "lose me so that he would have to explain to Gina why the heck I had disappeared". We were on a semi-crowded street, but still somehow, someone managed to stop themselves in front of me and make sure that I got really angry at something._

"_Aww, look at these two. They're so cute! How long have you two been together? Oh, I remember when I was young and in love…" The elderly woman who had planted herself in front of me and seemed determined to make sure that we didn't go anywhere was cooing at Demon and me as I tried to wrap my head around the situation. __She thinks… Demon and I… are together…_

"_LISTEN, LADY-!!" was all that I managed to shout before Demon slapped a hand over my mouth, said, "We're not together," and then walked/ dragged me away from the spot into the nearest alleyway that he could find. He released my mouth, and I glared silently at him, crossing my arms._

"_You were drawing attention to us," Demon offered, and I opened my mouth to speak, when a loud wailing sound came from behind a trash can._

_Demon and I jumped, and I immediately went into a fighting position. Demon, on the other hand, just walked over calmly behind the trash can and then frowned. "Just a baby," he muttered, turning back to me._

_I relaxed myself and walked over to next to Demon, really, really confused as to why a baby was in an alleyway. As soon as I got over there, the bundle of dirty yellow- or at least, I think it was yellow- blankets started to move a little again, and a slightly quieter wail came from the thing that looked a bit like a rock covered in yellow tissue paper._

_I took a step closer, trying to see the baby's actual face. Demon moved as if he was joined at my hip, and we both bent over the blanket. I reached out and moved the blanket a little bit, uncovering a small face with a cute nose and puckered mouth. I gently picked up the bundle, and started to rock to soothe the little scrunched up face that was getting ready to let another siren loose. "Shhh…"_

…_And then I realized what the hell I was doing, and stopped immediately. Demon was looking at me funnily, and I barked at him, "What?"_

_He kept looking at me, and then looked at the baby. "You look like its mother. It's weird. And plus, it's kinda ugly when it cries."_

_I rolled my eyes. "So, what are we going to do with it?"_

_Demon blinked, looked up at the sky, and said, "Put it down, cover it up, and get back so that Gina doesn't grill us."_

_In that moment, I realized that I really wanted to kill him. "We're not going to leave it here to starve! We have to take it with us."_

_Demon's eyes got really big, and he started shaking his head really fast. "NO! We can't keep a baby! What if it's got an owner and they come for it and they can't find it?! Does the thing even have a collar to say who the owner is?"_

_I swatted away Demon's arm, bouncing now to make sure that the little thing in my arms didn't start bawling again. "We aren't going to just leave it here. We could take it back with us."_

_Demon was getting ready to argue back some point or another when all of a sudden, as he was leaning over my shoulder, the baby opened its eyes. They were almost the exact same shade of green that Demon's were, and I looked between the two for a few minutes before I finally turned to him fully. "Can we?"_

_Demon was still staring at the baby as he answered softly, "Yeah, I guess…"_

_I smiled, and before he could change his mind at all, I climbed up the fire escape of one of the buildings in the alleyway and started back on my way to the hide away._

_My first words when we got back were: "Gina! We found a baby! Can we keep it?!"_

* * *

_**-End Memory-**_

"Val! Val! VAL!!" I snapped out of the memory to find that Demon was trying to get my attention. "What?"

He smiled and leaned back. "Thanks for finally answering me. I thought you were dead, you were so still. What were you thinking about?"

I smiled back, watching as he played with Kami on his lap. "Back to when we first found her. And you didn't want anything to do with her."

Demon looked down at Kami like a proud father looking at his new-born child. His eyes got a little misty, and then he shook his head, saying, "Yeah. I was pretty much all kinds of stupid back then."

I scoffed. "You think? You thought she had a collar to tell us who her parents were!"

Demon turned away from me, clearly embarrassed at his previous lack of common sense. "Hey, I was eleven! Cut me some slack!"

I smirked, enjoying myself. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, baby abuser. " And then, just because if he squirmed anymore he was going to make a dent in his seat, I changed the subject. "So, where are we going now?"

Demon let out a small sigh of relief, clearly glad to be out of that situation. He scooted off the roof and flapped his wings a couple of times. I leapt off the billboard after him, still waiting for an answer. Demon smiled, and I did a very slight dip in the air involuntarily. _Huh, I must really be happy to see him if I'm trying to do acrobatics…_ "The house where the rest of us are staying."

I followed along happily, scanning the air in front of us to make sure that there were no flying furry dots on the horizon. All the while, Demon and Kami were happily chatting away to each other, catching up on any and everything.

Finally, Demon swerved sideways, beginning to descend. I followed his lead, both of us snapping our wings shut and dropping like stones. After brushing my foot against some of the tree leaves, I whipped my wings back open to glide lightly, nearly missing the little clearing that had suddenly popped up out of nowhere.

Demon dropped down with Kami in his arms, and I watched as he picked the lock expertly, letting himself into the summer house that he and the rest of my winged family had decided to crash in.

It was nice. I looked around the place, and Kami squirmed to get out of Demon's grip, running full speed down the hallway. Demon led me into the living room, and we sat down facing each other on the couch.

"So, is there any explanation for why Kami's here with you, and not with Gina and the others?" Demon started, not staring at me but at Kami, who was now flipping through channels randomly, settling finally on Spongebob Squarepants.

I had to smile a little. _At least she's learned something from her extended family: Spongebob is good for a healthy brain._

Finally, I turned back to Demon, looking him dead in the eye. It would make it a lot harder to tell whether or not I was lying. "After I sent the message to Gina, she went to you guys, right?" I waited for his nod before I continued, because I had no idea where the hell this answer was coming from. "After that, she went back and brought Kami to me, simultaneously telling me that you guys were coming to rescue me relatively soon." _Huh. That almost sound like the truth…. I am really good._

Demon took his time to look me in the eyes, as if checking to make sure that I wasn't lying to him. _Well, at least he knows me._ When he finally leaned back against the couch back, I could still see the little traces of doubt in his eyes, but I didn't try to add anything else, because then he would know that I had screwed up my story.

After a few moments of silence where the only thing that we could hear was the sound of the F.U.N. song, Demon nudged me with his foot, and I shifted my attention back to him. "What are we going to do when she gets older?"

I looked down at Kami, and couldn't help but wonder the same thing. Kami was growing, I was now part vampire and unable to ever age past 17, Demon was going to get older. Eventually, Kami was going to want to settle down and live her own life. She was eventually going to start look older than I did. The thought made my throat close up and my eyes feel oddly scratchy. I furrowed my eyebrows, trying to get the thought of Kami growing up and leaving me out of my mind.

I turned to look at Demon, and hit him lightly with my foot. "Don't even try to bring up that topic." I was also giving him a death glare which clearly said, "I am her mother, and I _refuse_ to think of _that_ before she gets to reaching puberty."

Demon wasn't really interpreting the glare that I was giving him though, seeing as he kept pushing the subject. "But seriously, what's going to happen when she goes off to college? Are we going to be there? Will we have expired by then?"

I remained silent, wondering what had brought on this type of thinking from Demon. "Are you having your mid-life crisis or something?"

Demon snapped right out of it, his attention all back in the present and not when Kami was about to walk down the aisle. "I'm seventeen, Val," he said incredulously.

I shrugged my shoulders, crossing my arms over my chest and one of my eyebrows raising. "Not the way your thoughts are going. We may need to get you a sports car to make you feel better about yourself…."

Demon shook his head at me, accustomed to Sarcastic Val since he had been there when she pretty much came into being. "Shut up, Valerie."

There was some more silence, and then I realized that Kami had been quiet for a while. "Kami, sweetie? Are you okay?"

She shifted a bit, her eyes still glued on the Spongebob screen, and I waited. Finally, after about 10 seconds, she finally cracked.

"Mommy? Daddy?"

Somehow, I felt that I should have run in the moment that I had far, far away and avoided the incoming question. I squelched the immediate instinct and stayed put. "Yeah, baby girl?"

She finally turned away from the TV screen, her bright green eyes looking exactly like her father's whenever he was curious about something. "Where do babies come from?"

In the middle of her math class, I could just picture Alice laughing hysterically to herself. _Damn you, Pixie! What fresh hell is this?!_

Demon was looking a lot like some sort of petrified statue. His eyes were wide and still glued to the same spot from before the question. His knuckles had turned almost white, his jaw was clenched tightly, and I could hear his heart rate increase. I leaned over to poke him in the arm to make sure that he was still breathing, and then he practically fell off the couch. I would have laughed, but seeing as my only daughter had just asked me to explain the miracle of life to her, that really wasn't about to happen. _Why me? I haven't done anything wrong! I just hit the people who deserve it!_

The room was dead silent, with Kami still blinking innocently up as Demon and I both tried to collect ourselves enough to lie to her. "Umm… well…"

_Demon, I honestly don't know why the hell I keep you around anymore if you are of no help to me in these types of situations._ I inhaled deeply, and said, "Honey, when we get home, ask your Uncle Carlisle. He can explain it better."

_There! Crisis averted, and we can all go back to the way we were before Kami tried to kill off Demon and I quickly and efficiently. Or at least make us head for the nearest exit._

I got up, still slightly shell-shocked, and pulled Demon after me into the kitchen. His face was still frozen into the same position of horror that it had been for the past three minutes, and he was beginning to mutter incoherent phrases.

I pulled him over to the sink and grabbed the spray nozzle from its resting position. Without warning him, I aimed and shot straight at his face.

* * *

_**-5 Minutes Later-**_

"Did you really have to nearly freaking drowned me with water?!" Demon was still asking as he pulled off layer by layer of his wet clothing. I was leaning against the wall in his room, chuckling to myself still at his sopping wet figure.

"Yeah." At the death glare that was sent my way, I decided to give him a little more of an explanation. "You'd gone into shock. There wasn't anything else I could do except spray you with the sink nozzle- HEY!"

While I had been talking, Demon had been stripping out of his shirts one by one until he finally threw the last one at me, and I was left to stare at…him.

"What?" Demon said, rummaging through his closet looking for a sweatshirt. "You done yet?"

I blinked a few times, then turned away to face the wall. "Please, if you truly love me, warn me the next time that you decide to take off your shirt. And yes, I am done."

I heard Demon close the distance between us, and I could practically feel as his smirk grew bigger on his face. "Aww, Val, you know that you love my body," he said as he wrapped his arms around me.

I froze up for a millisecond, and then managed to overheat myself so that Demon jumped back saying, "Okay, no need to roast me."

I walked almost mechanically out of the room, calling back, "Put on a shirt! Don't nobody wanna see that!" Demon's snort of laughter followed me all the way back downstairs, and Kami, who had been sitting quietly on D's bed, followed me out.

I sat myself down on the couch, and I took a moment to collect my thoughts completely before turning to Luz, who was tugging on my sleeve. "Yes, sweetie?"

Her little eyebrows furrowed, and then she asked, "Mommy? Do you and Daddy love each other?"

I immediately pulled her onto my lap, wondering why the heck she was consulting the Oprah-loving part of her mind today. "Of course, sweetie. Daddy and I are best friends. We have to love each other, no matter what."

Kami's eyes were still cloudy with some sort of doubt, and then she asked, "Babies happen when people love each other, right?"

I turned wary of the conversation immediately, but decided to tough it out and not go back into the other room. "Yup, sweetie. Two people have to love each other veeeeeery much. And you have to be the right age to have a baby."

Kami turned the full force of her puppy eyes on me, and they probably would have worked in any other situation had she not asked the next question that came out of her little mouth: "Then when will I get a little brother or sister?"

_-Blink blink-_ _Rebooting system..... WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!_

And then, as if that wasn't bad enough, I heard someone else's footsteps coming from outside the house. A door opened and then closed again, and then Fang appeared in the doorway of the kitchen.

He looked at the scene in front of him, shook his head and then said, "So I'm guessing that you're our Val?"

I was about to open my mouth to answer- _Although, at this moment, venting out all my frustrations through screaming sounds really good too..._- when Kami pulled on my shirt collar again. "Mommy, you didn't answer my question. When will you and Daddy give me a little sister?"

Three things happened simultaneously: Fang's eyes widened, and his face took on a "What the hell did I just walk in on?" sort of look; Demon, who had walked back in in his new sweatshirt screamed, "WHAT?!"; and I leaned back in my seat and groaned, covering my face. _Damn it. Damn it all to hell. Damn it all to the lowest level of hell where Satan lives. When I get back to the McCarthy's place, I am going to burn all of Alice's clothes and then feed them to her. WHY THE HELL DIDN'T SHE WARN ME!?_

_

* * *

_

**Teehee. I know. I'm really evil. You're just going to have to deal with me, otherwise you aren't getting the next chapter. HAHA! -sticks out tongue-**

**And now, I have to go and finish "Mistletoe"... eventually. DON'T WORRY, I WILL! I just procrastinate... a lot...**

**REVIEW!! I made some friends in my company of the Martians, and they might just make a surprise visit at your house and tickle attack you. Yes, the martians know where you live. Deal with it. They could also be singing you "Istanbul, Not Constantinople"...**

**Peace, love, and "-gasp- I have three cents! I can now buy a TicTac! Note the singular.",**

**Skittles31**


	34. Storkie Dearest and the Skank Parade

**_Hello, beautiful/ handsome peoples!! Tis I, Skittles31. Whom is tired, and could have gone to bed about two hours ago, but did not. Just for you. Be happy. Or at least decide not to murder me, since I have finally updated...._**

**_There are several random things that have no significance to you all, but I will tell you anyway. I can not seem to feel my left hand, which gives typing the oddest sensation. My brother Bugsy's B-day is tomorrow. (WHOO!! GO BUGSY!!). My darling authoress/ almost sister leshawnaseville is reading the Max Ride series, and is pretty much halfway through STWAOES. She has also had THE DREAM that pretty much every person that I ask has had, in which she has joined the Flock and has wings. I am in the musical (again), and all of the faculty in my school think that I am insane, as I did the "I'm Loopy" dance around my darling other friend whose pen name will not write on this website for some reason, and so I am labelling her as Froidlegee, as both the elevator doors opened, full of teachers. Celery Vandalism has been approved. This chappy is filled with itty- bitty bits of Demerie. _**

**_Well, actually, that is a bold faced lie. It's pretty much jam- packed. That is part of the reason why I could not post this as early as would have been liked; every time I thought I was done, I got some new idea in Biology and then used Bio as another study period in which I revised the final draft of this chappy. But, FINALLY, it is DONE!! Be happy!! Be spontaneous!! Be graceful, like an oyster is apparently...._**

**_And now, the Disclaimer: Nope. Not even close to getting it, as my lawyer who has been working diligently to help me obtain the rights has demanded a break, or pay. Because I have no money, I let him take a break before I put him back to slave over the computer. But there will be progress. THIS I SWEAR!!_**

**_And now, ON WITH THE STORY!!_**

* * *

I switched my direction again, staring at the floor, and not trying to make eye contact with anything _but_ the floor. I could feel Demon, Fang, and Kami's eyes following me as I paced, but I just kept trying to word everything properly in a way that did not involve cursing, running away from the scene as fast as I possibly could without drawing attention to myself, or throwing Demon in front of me and telling him to deal with our _obviously_ dysfunctional daughter.

However, the third choice was not really a good idea, seeing as Demon was still recovering from the question that Kami had posed as he had walked into the room. _Jeebus, he has __**really**__ bad timing issues…_

On the other side of the couch was Fang, who was just sort of staring at the both of us with a look that I liked to call the "I'm completely shell shocked right now, but since I'm Fang and I can't show too much emotion at one time, I'm going to tone it down a lot so that you guys only see this look" look. One of Fang's classics.

Honestly, the entire look just made me want to wring his neck, but I wasn't about to let him know that. Just like Iggy, my other surrogate older brother took some sort of sick pleasure in annoying the _hell _out of me.

Kami-- _Sweet, innocent, almost- could- be- called- a- devil- child- for- forcing- this- on- me Kami_- was sitting in between the two brothers, and still hadn't seemed to fully grasp the weight of the situation that she had forced us all into. And the situation that apparently only _I_ was able to handle without mentally hyperventilating.

Kami, finally realizing that the only sound that was going through the room was the soft sound of breathing and my light footsteps as I paced, decided that she wanted to ask the question again. "Mom?"

"In a sec, sweetie," Low enough so that no one else could hear, regardless of their mutated hearing, I added, "Mommy's trying to figure out the cleanest way to corrupt the rest of your mind."

Finally, just because I couldn't take having to deal with the prospect of this problem in the future, I turned to face the three on the couch and plopped down on the floor, crossing my legs. "Ok, Kami sweetie? You want to know why you don't have a baby sister?"

The only response that I got that Demon was actually listening was the fact that his eyes opened a bit wider and he seemed to choke on nothing. _Lovely. No need to call Carlisle._

Kami was much more enthusiastic than Fang and Demon were, bouncing in place and clapping her hands together. "YES!!YES!!YES!!"

I sighed, rubbing my temples and trying to figure out what elaborate lie I could pull out of thin air this time. "Well, sweetie, in order for you to have a baby, two people have to love each other, remember?"

Kami nodded, and then she stood up and put her hands on her hips. She pursed her lips and said, "Yeah, mom, I remember. I said it."

With her eyelids lowered just enough to make her look like she was uninterested, she looked like a smaller version of me with Demon's eyes. I could barely hold back the happy cry that was threatening to erupt from my throat. _She's learning something from me!!_

And then: _She really is like Demon and my own daughter._

I blinked a few times, trying to figure out just what that random thought had meant paired with the random flutter that had entered my stomach. _Of course Kami is like Demon and my own kid. We became her surrogate parents, so __**of course**__ she was bound to pick up __**something**__ from either of us. I would be lying if I didn't say that I was her mom and D was her dad. And that doesn't necessarily mean that we have to love each other in __**that **__way. It just means that she spent time with each of us who were trying to fill in the role of her parents. Yeah, not that she was really our flesh and blood daughter, because that would mean bad things that Demon and I had done underage and I would end up on one of those stupid TV shows about teen pregnancy. And Demon and I would never love each other in that way, since we're just friends. Friends who raised a kid together. Not a kid that was their own biologically, but an adopted kid. Who for some reason looks like she should have been our own in the first place… Why does it sound like I'm trying to convince somebody?_

And before I could stop the pointless rambling that I was doing in my head, another thought came from way out in left field. _I wonder how one of our kids would actually look…_

Stopping myself before the thought process could go any farther, I took one of my fists and started to hit it against my head continuously. Acting as if nothing had happened, I then turned back to Kami and said, "Ok, yes sweetie? Now where were we? Oh, right, so you already know that two people have to love each other. Do you know what else has to happen for a baby to come?"

Kami dropped my personality and went back to her own bubbly one. "Yeah! Auntie Alice told me that two people have to kiss."And then her little intake of breath came. "Wait, mommy, does that mean that you and Daddy have kissed before?!"

Personally, I was still hung up on the entire "Alice told me" thing. _I knew she had something to do with this. She is going to be having roasted designer shirts to feed on when she gets home._

The next question, which had come out of right field, shocked Demon back into living. _Great, because I need some time to take in that last question._ Demon was frantic, whereas his stupid brother was sitting there quietly chuckling to himself. _Stupid Mr. I'm Too Cool To Be Involved In This Conversation. I swear, if I could feel my arms right now, then I would punch that smirk so far off your face your __**grandkids**__ would feel it._

"NO! Your mother and I have never kissed each other!" Demon managed to splutter out, and Fang's grin grew a little wider.

And then Kami's face fell, and both Demon and my thoughts clearly said, _Oh crap._

Fang? Fang was the complete opposite. Fang's thoughts were giddy with excitement of seeing how the hell we were going to get out of this one. But his face was toned down to "I'm enjoying this so much that if I smirk any more this will become a full-on smile" mode.

Kami was full on pulling the sad face, her puppy dog pout almost heart-wrenching to watch. "B=but… So then… Am I n-not r-really… a-are you and m-mommy not r-really my mommy and d-daddy?"

And then I realized that answering this question meant a whole lot of backtracking and careful words. Demon, still almost hyperventilating, started to flail his arms around like when he got either really involved in something, or really frantic. "No! We're your mom and dad, Kami!"

Kami's face got a lot less upset. _Thank jeebus. I don't know what the hell I would have done had she started to cry._ "So, I'm your b-baby?"

I heaved a sigh, figuring that I'd let Demon struggle long enough. _Plus, if he waves his arms around anymore, he's gonna hit all the pillows right off the couch._ "Yes, sweetie. And we will _always_ be your mommy and daddy."

Kami sniffled. "But then… you and Daddy _have_ kissed before?" _For Demon's love of red velvet cake, would she let that go already?!_

"Screw it," I muttered to myself, and then said, not caring if Fang death glared a hole through my head or not, "No, sweet heart. Auntie Alice wasn't telling you the truth. Besides, if every time two people kissed a baby was born, we would have several Max and Fang babies running around."

Demon's now- grinning face returned to its normal color, and Fang's eyes narrowed to a scary extent. All of his thoughts were clearly saying, "Run, while you still have proper use of your legs" in some way. I just smirked back at him. _HA! This is my revenge for you not coming to our rescue!! Eat that, useless smirking boy!!_

Demon conscience even piped up for a few seconds. And that was when I realized that I was hosting a completely different person in my head. _I must admit that even as the voice of reason, that was probably the best choice if you wanted to get Fang off your back about the actual issue that you had. But now, you're going to have to deal with him instead of a small 6-year- old who was just curious. And yes, I think you've gone insane too._

Kami's attention was successfully diverted from us to Fang, and her face was completely gleeful as she asked, "Uncle Fang! You and Auntie Max have kissed?!"

The death glare that Fang aimed at me was now powerful enough to have singed a few holes in me. _Huh. I wonder if he can actually see with his eyes closed almost all the way like that…_

With Kami's persistence, Fang was only able to hold up for about thirty seconds before he mumbled some affirmative noise softly. The smirks grew wider, and Kami's grin got to that borderline scary mark as she jumped into his lap asking for details.

Fang, now apparently having had enough, took her from off his lap and said, "I'll tell you later after your mom is done explaining to you, alright?"

And the roles switched back; I was glaring back at Fang, he was smirking and enjoying the situation again, and Demon was….getting paler? _Well alrighty then… I wasn't even aware of that situation being possible, but…_

Kami settled herself back down beside me, and I ran my hand through my hair again, trying to piece together something to tell her. "Ok, so Kami? When two people love each other very much, they have to decide together that they want to have a baby."

Demon nearly fell off the couch in shock when he realized that I was actually coming up with _something_ to actually tell our daughter. Fang leaned back into the couch, the smirk now becoming a permanent fixation on his face as he settled down to watch the show. After this, I was going to wring his scrawny little neck like a freaking washcloth, and I honest- to- Itex _**did not care**_ how pissed Maxie dearest would be with me.

I continued my story, making up complete nonsense because I was not going to be in charge of mentally scarring my child at the age of six. _That is Emmett's job._ "Ok, so then, usually, what happens is…Demon, would you like to take over from here?" I asked, desperate to get out of this, no matter who the heck I had to leave behind…

Ok, so that was a tiny bit of a lie. I'd probably try to take Demon along with me, and I would have completely left Fang. But I just really wanted to get the hell out of that house without any casualties.

Demon started to shake his head frantically, keeping his hands up in front of him, as if he were afraid that I was going to attack him or something. "No, thanks. That is _**O.K.**_ You just keep explaining this one to her. I will supervise."

Just to make sure that he understood just how much I _must_ have loved him, I continued to attempt the explanation. But I let him know that he owed me- _BIG TIME, MAN!!_- with only one look.

I don't think the thought got through to him though, seeing as he sort of sighed in relief and waved me off. I sighed, my bangs flying up in the air, and then kept going.

"Ok, so umm….the mommy gets a special package from the… erm…stork. The stork is sort of like the baby bird. The stork then tells her that she's going to have a baby, and then…" I trailed off, not really sure how to describe the actual pregnancy part with the baby being in the stomach to Kami without getting too disgusting.

Demon, surprisingly, broke in. "Then, the mommies always ask how they can have the baby close to them at all times to make sure that it's OK. So the stork puts the baby in the mommy."

I sent him a huge mental thank you, smiling because Demon always was really good at reading my mind. _I mean, for a non-mind reader._ This situation just got filed away in the back of my head to another one of the times when he came to my proverbial rescue.

I picked back up the thread, now a lot less stressed over what I was going to tell Kami. "Yup, the baby goes right over the mommy's stomach so it can eat like she can and grow and hear its mom's voice all the time. The stork puts the baby in for nine months so that it can grow, and then…"

Collectively, the entire energy in the room tensed back up again as I realized that I had to actually find some innocent way of explaining the "miracle of birth".

And that is when I started to mentally rant. _Oh, come __**on**__!! Why the hell am I being put through this?! Demon and I didn't learn about the birds and the bees and all this crap until we were both __**more than double**__ Kami's age. And we weren't even __**supposed**__ to have known. We just clicked on one of the internet ads that said something about the word pregnant and then we ended up at some website for an abortion clinic. And then since we had no idea what __**that**__ meant, we read a little bit more and then fully corrupted our own minds by ourselves. So why do we have to teach this to her at this time?! When she is still young and innocent and not even close to nearing the age of puberty?!_

Pulling myself out of my mental downward spiral, I started to piece together words slowly. "By this time, the mommy is really big because of the baby." _One sentence. It is a flipping miracle._

_…Lovely, now even my subconscious is turning on me._ "But now, the stork comes back, because he needs to see the baby. When the mommy sees him, she starts yelling because she's so huge. And then the stork starts yelling back because he's angry that almost all of the mom's end up yelling at him—"

Kami interrupted. "Wait, mom, so storks can talk?"

I absentmindedly nodded. "Of course. I'll show one to you one day. Anyway, so then after that, the stork takes the baby out of the mom's stomach so that she'll stop yelling, but the baby doesn't want to go because it's gotten so used to being close to its mom, so then the mom's in a bit of pain. But after a little while, the stork gets the baby out, and then he leaves to go and get other babies to other mommies everywhere. OK! WHO WANTS COOKIES?!" I rushed out, finally finished, happy to be getting up and out of that room. Before anyone could say anything else, I was halfway to the kitchen.

Watching as the door swung shut, I threw every mental curse that I could think of at Demon and Fang for not helping me out. And then finally, I started to take out the ingredients for cookies, seeing as once you told Kami that you were making cookies, she was going to pester you until she got them. _Sorta like Max._

Demon walked in a few minutes later, and I glared openly at him before turning back to the cookie mix. He came over to where I was standing and leaned against the counter beside where I was sitting. "You handled that pretty well."

I pointedly ignored him, turning my back to get the chocolate from where I could smell it, hidden in the back of the fridge. Demon heaved a sigh, and under his breath he said to himself. "I knew this was going to happen…"

He walked over to where I was now angrily mixing the cookie dough ingredients. He decided to try again. "It's not like I could have done anything. My brain was still stuck on the entire "Where do babies come from?" question. I don't react as well in bad situations as you do, it's a proven fact."

I kept ignoring him, although it took a little will power not to answer back with something smart after his last comment. He sighed again, and then came around behind me. Wrapping his arms around my waist from the back, he rested his head on my shoulder, and I started to grip the mixing spoon so tightly that I nearly split it in half. After a few seconds of silence, he finally muttered, "When she has to have the sex talk, I'll do it, ok?"

Finally smiling, I spun around in his arms and hugged him. "You're forgiven. Now help me heave this stuff into the oven for Kami."

He pulled the puppy dog pout. "Can't I have some of the cookie dough first?"

I put my hands on my hips, mock glaring up at him. "If you get the cookie dough, then you can't have any cookies after."

Sighing once again, and also managing to blow a large amount of his breath into my face, he complied. I blinked a few times to clear my suddenly cloudy head, and then moved to take out the baking pans. _How nice of the real owners of this house to leave enough supplies to help mutant bird children make it through the winter._

Demon and I worked in a comfortable silence, the only sound being when the spoon scraped the bottom of the mixing bowl. After we had put the cookies into the oven, Demon watched me as I started to put all of the baking materials away. Finally, after I had sufficiently squirmed under his unwavering stare, he said, "Come on. I'll give you one of my sweatshirts. You're dirty."

I looked down at myself, and then briefly wondered what the heck he was talking about. "There are only a few smudges. I'll be fine."

Demon stared at me for a few seconds, and then before I could comprehend what the heck was happening, I had been thrown over his shoulder and was in the process of being taken back to his room. "HEY!! PUT ME DOWN!"

_I am a flipping mind-reading vampire!! How the hell did I miss that he was about to throw me over his shoulder caveman style?!_

We passed back through the living room, ignored the shocked faces of Fang and Kami, and then when we reached his room, Demon threw me down on his bed, immediately turning to grab another sweatshirt from the pile of clothes lying in the corner.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "This really isn't necessary, you know. I've been covered in worse."

Demon's head briefly reappeared. "Too bad. When you have other clothes, you change."

I tried another tactic. "I'm not putting on another shirt. The only way that thing is getting on me is if you somehow manage to get it over my head."

And I realized soon after that that I really should not have said that, regarding the evil gleam in Demon's eyes. "No, D… Violence is not the answer…."

The evil, maniacal grin on Demon's face got a little wider. "Val, you are a contradiction to yourself." And then he pounced again, and I was laughing so hard that I couldn't feel my stomach.

While I was incapacitated, Demon managed to get the stupid sweatshirt over my laughing head, somehow managing to continue to tickle me with one hand free. He then continued to tickle me just because he could, with me helpless to stop him. _Arrogant, tickling-finger holding buttface._

Finally, after realizing that if I kept laughing any longer then my stomach would burst and he would have to clean up my remains from where they would lay on the bed, he stopped his attack, and I took a few more minutes to finally quiet down.

After finally getting myself under control, I glared at him. "I hate you. So much. There is no limit to the amount of hate I feel for you right now."

Demon happily replied, "No you don't. I think we've already covered the fact that you love me."

I growled. "Bite me. I'm chocolaty."

Something flashed through Demon's eyes, which were now smoldering. "You sure you want to tell me that?" _WHY THE HELL IS HIS VOICE SO FREAKING GRAVELLY?!_

Trying to contain myself, I flipped him off of me to somewhere over my shoulder and got up. "No, you asshole. Now shut up and come on."

I walked out of his room back into the living room. "Ok, so we have fifteen- twenty minutes until the cookies are done. Anyone got anything to say? And Fnicky boy, I still would like to know why the heck you are here."

Fang was about to open his mouth to answer my question when Kami asked yet another question. "Mom, what did you say to the stork when he came?"

It took a few seconds to realize that she was still talking about the miracle of life. _Oh, come ON!! I gave her what she wanted!! What more does she want from me?!_

"Umm…" _Hmm. How do I lie my way out of this one?_

"Mommy?" Kami replied, her eyes widening a little more.

Finally deciding "Eh, what the heck?", I sat down on the couch beside Fang and said to her, "Honey, you were a special case."

Fang and Demon's confused and curious faces hit my peripheral vision as I focused on Kami, who was all over this new piece of information like Alice on a sale. "Really?"

I nodded, picking her up and placing her on my lap. "Yup. The stork couldn't figure out what mommy to put you with, so then he decided that he was going to leave you with some guardian angels."

Kami gasped. "That's you and daddy!"

I smiled at her. "Not exactly. The stork bumped into your father and me when we were flying over Chicago. He thought that we were angels, and before we could tell him the truth, he gave you to us. We knew we had to keep you after that, because the stork was stubborn and you were a pretty adorable baby."

Kami processed that in her 6- year- old brain, and then said, "So, you and Daddy are like my guardian angels?"

_No, more like deformed partially- satanic mutants with consciences…_ "Yeah, pretty much."

Satisfied with my answer, she gave me one last large grin before she turned back on the TV and settled down.

I sank back against the pillows, sensing that the storm had finally passed. Demon sat down beside me, shuffled us around a bit so that I was sitting in front of him, and then started to massage my shoulders. I bit back a moan, and then Fang broke our relative silence.

"Congratulations. You were able to completely trick a six year old out of knowing where babies really come from," Fang said, managing to keep his voice low enough that Kami didn't hear and ask us what we were talking about. _Like hell. Not after I just had a vampire's heart attack trying to tell a story that sounded like the truth._

I sent Fang the deadliest glare that I could manage. "Shut the hell up, Fangy boy. She's still gonna want to know about you and Max. And once again, why the hell are you here and not in school with the rest of my winged band of misfits?"

Fang shrugged. "I didn't feel like staying at school. And if Demon could stay here and pretend to be sick, why the hell couldn't I? I told her I didn't feel well and she sent me home immediately."

I snorted. "Watch. She's going to come barging in here with a gas mask on and demand to know why the hell your family is getting so sick."

Fang rolled his eyes. "She doesn't know where we live, smart one."

I stuck my tongue out at him, and Demon cut in, still rubbing small circles at the base of my wings. "Hey, Val? Are the cookies going to be done soon? I can smell them."

I sniffed the air, and sure enough, the cookies were almost done. "Ok, you want them gooey?"

Three nods ranging in enthusiasm were sent to me, and I reluctantly got up from in front of my masseuse to go get them out of the oven before it looked like Max had tried to bake them.

* * *

_**-Two Days Later-**_

I was incredibly happy with how the situation had finally turned out. The rest of the McCarthy children and I were all sprawled out in one of the picnic areas under the trees with the rest of my winged mutant family. I was incredibly thankful, seeing as if I had to stand next to Nudge for another gym class and listen to her babble both to me and under her breath for the duration of forty minutes and not be able to yell "NUDGE! SHUT UP!", I may have blown up the school.

_…Although I must say that the reunion scene could have probably gone a lot better without all of Max's screaming and yelling when she caught us all sitting in the living room eating cookies and half watching Jimmy Neutron. Although I've got to say that it was nice watching her face after I told her to "Just shut up and hug me and stop testing your lung power."… _

It was lunchtime, and I was leaning against Demon's bent legs while he leant against one of the trees we were surrounding. Nudge was sitting next to Iggy on the bench, and every few seconds she would send me a smirk at my position against Demon. Every time, I glared at her, and she turned away before she attracted any major attention.

Halfway through our lunch period, two of the really scantily clad girls from the first day of school- _Still wondering how the hell they can dress like that in this type of weather…_- approached us, and all the conversation stopped. _Oh boy. Here we go…_

The one with the heavy green shadow pushed the one with the eye shadow so dark that it looked like she had raccoon eyes forward. Obviously, she was doing the talking.

Then she cleared her throat, and we all focused on her. The clear message was "You aren't welcome here."

She finally opened her mouth to start, and I watched as she flipped her hair back, obviously very confident. "Umm, hi. I'm Emily. So, I was wondering, Trent, was wondering if you would consider going on a date with me this Saturday. Oh, and don't mind the girl cowering behind me."

I raised one eyebrow, and I could feel Demon stiffen behind me. I felt him begin to write letters on my back quickly, and after paying enough attention, I realized that they spelled out "Hell no! Not without you there to somehow run interference and get me out of there." I tried to hold back a smirk at that.

Demon cleared his throat and said, "Umm, sorry, Emily. I'm busy this weekend." Under his breath, he added, "And every weekend after that, as far as you're concerned." I chuckled under my breath, and I watched as Emmett's face twitched with the effort to continue to stare blankly at "Emily" and Stripper-In-Training Number 2 (a.k.a. girl standing behind Emily) and not burst into loud laughter.

Then, Stripper- In- Training Number 2 looked dead at me, and said, "Umm, sorry, but Valerie, was it? You're blocking him out of our view."

Demon stiffened once again, and I nearly laughed. She was trying to be a snob _**with me**_. _Oh, this isn't going to end well for her._ I let out one short little laugh. "Oh, sorry, honey. I just didn't want to scar him. I think that viewing public nudity can cause _some_ sort of psychological damage."

Demon was practically vibrating under me as I told the girl basically to get to stepping. Max flashed me a huge grin, and I settled for a smirk in her direction. SIT #2 glared at me, then shifted her views back to Demon and said, "Well, if you ever change your mind, Trent, just come see us later." And then, narrowing her eyes at me again, she added, "_Alone._"

I chuckled shortly again. "Honey, that's the set-up for rape. Trent is much smarter than that."

She full on glared at me, and pulled Emily, who was also glaring, away, back inside the building to where the rest of the skank parade was probably waiting for news. _And hopefully back into the fiery pits of hell from where they came._

We all burst out laughing after we were sure that they had left, and I got several high- fives from various members of our insane lunch crew/ dysfunctional almost family.

"Val, I don't think she knew what hit her. Did you have to be so mean?" Demon asked me playfully after the level of our laughter had gone down a little bit.

I half turned to face him, arranging my face so that I looked almost innocent. "Mean? Me? Trent, you and I both know that that was not mean. Hell, I should have given her a basket of cookies after that."

We both chuckled to ourselves. And then another thought hit me.

"You know, Demon, we need to get you a girlfriend to make sure that hoe-bags like that one don't try to come after you. I can't always protect you," I stated, and then everything got silent.

I looked around, and almost everyone was looking at me with a look of "Did she really just say that?" plastered on their faces. Nudge's mouth was even hanging open a little bit.

I was confused, to say the least. "What?"

* * *

**_Teehee. I know, I am evil. With a capital EVIL!! But, you know you want to know the rest of the story.... SO REVIEW, MY DUCKIES!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!_**

**_Ahem. Going to get some sleep now, to make me at least seem normal.... REVIEW!!_**

**_Peace, love, and:-_**

**_Ms. Edgar (my math teacher): "Oh! Dirty words....",_**

**_Skittles31_**

**_P.S. GRRR.... Something's wrong with the underlining thingy for my authors notes..... I wonder if a Harry Potter spell will work here...._**


	35. The Parade's Uturn and Drunk Principals

_**Alright, peoples. Guess what? I'M ON SPRING BREAK!! OH YEAH!! HAHA!!**_

**_Not that I don't feel bad for everyone who is still in school. Oh, trust me, I do. It's just that there is an overpowering sense of joy that overpowers my feelings of sadness for you guys. But I really am sorry._**

**_And before anyone attacks me, or there are death threats, I would also like to add that very soon, there will be more updates. Hopefully, seeing as I also have to not be a lazy procrastinator (as is my specialty) and work on my bio project and my history project that's not really a history project but more like a giant school project. Either way, both added together are the bane of my freshman year existence. Ugh._**

**_But, anyways, yeah. Oh, and because I haven't ranted on this enough, I would now like to bring up the topic of the sixth MR book"Fang". If you haven't read it yet, do two things:_**

**_One: Don't read the next rant that is in all uppercase. Major Spoilers.  
Two: Don't read the book. Period. Just stop the entire series at Max and save yourself the heartbreak._**

**_Ahem. Here we go...._**

**_WHAT THE EFF, JAMES PATTERSON?! ARE YOU TRYING TO GET ME KILLED!!! OR AT LEAST MAKE ME CRY SO MUCH THAT I LOSE ALL TRACES OF TEARS FROM MY BODY?! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! FIRST FANG *DIES* IN MAX'S ARMS, AND THEN HE COMES BACK TO LIFE (WELL AT LEAST YOU GOT *THAT* PART RIGHT, SEEING AS FANG CANNOT DIE!!!) AND THEN AT THE END, AFTER YOU NEARLY MADE ME FAINT THINKING THAT MAX AND FANG WERE GETTING MARRIED, YOU MAKE HIM LEAVE, ABANDONING MAX WITH ONLY THE HOPE THAT SHE'LL SEE HIM AGAIN IN 20 FREAKING YEARS?! WHAT THE HELL?! I AM GOING TO KILL MYSELF!! ACTUALLY, NO!! THAT'S A LIE!! NO MATTER HOW FREAKING GUT-WRENCHING THE LAST BOOK WAS, I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT ON VALENTINE'S DAY OF NEXT YEAR, I AM GOING TO RUN TO BARNES AND NOBLE - LIKE I DID WITH THIS BOOK ON THE SAME DAY THAT IT CAME OUT- AND THEN START THIS PROCESS ALL OVER AGAIN!! GAH!! YOU EVIL, BRILLIANT MAN!!! WHY MUST YOU TORTURE ME SOO!! I CRIED ON THE FREAKING TRAIN THREE TIMES, TWICE MORE IN SCHOOL, ONCE OVER THE PHONE WHEN TALKING TO ONE OF MY BEST FRIEND WHO HADN'T FINISHED THE BOOK YET, AND WHAT THE HELL!! I'M CRYING *AGAIN( JUST BY THINKING ABOUT IT!! DO YOU GET SOME KIND OF JOY FROM MAKING MILLIONS OF TEENAGE GIRLS WORLD WIDE SOB THEIR HEARTS OUT, JP?! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!_**

**_Ok, I think I'm done. And back to our regularly scheduled program._**

**_Disclaimer: No, I am NOT James Patterson. If I were, I would have stopped the book series at Max and been done with it. Also, I would not have attempted to murder millions of teenage girls who are in love with Fang via this book._**

**_And now that I have gotten all of that out of my system, ON WITH THE STORY!_**

* * *

**____****-Val POV-**

**Please tell me that I did not just hear those words come out of Valerie's mouth. Someone **_**please**_** slap me. Or, better yet, slap **_**her**_**.**

**Honestly, I love Val. Seriously. She's like one of my favorite people in the world because of the way that she is. And the fact that she can control fire just makes her off the charts cool in my book. But honestly, sometimes she has to be the STUPIDEST person that I have ever met.**

**This would be one of those times.**

**WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND TELLS THEIR BEST FRIEND WHO THEY ARE SECRETLY IN LOVE WITH TO GO AND GET A GIRLFRIEND?! Val, if you can hear me right now, you had better listen up really well!! THAT WAS A MOMENT WHERE YOU SHOULD HAVE OPENED YOUR MOUTH AND INSERTED NOT JUST YOUR FOOT, BUT YOUR ENTIRE **_**LEG**_**!!....I never did understand that expression.... Wait, no, back on track. Yeah, WHAT?!**

I attempted not to growl, seeing as reading Nudge's thoughts was really making me want to twist her into a freaking pretzel. _I AM NOT IN LOVE WITH DEMON!!_

Demon conscience popped back into my head, and I told myself for the umpteenth time that I was going to go to the happy house if this voice in my head kept progressing the way it was. _Keep telling yourself that._

I mentally glared, knowing that it would look odd if I just came out of nowhere and glared at the shrub that I was sitting across from. _Shut the hell up. What do you know?_

I immediately realized that I had just asked a horrible question, and Demon conscience shot back, _Everything that you do, and even some other things that you refuse to acknowledge. Or realize that they exist._

Deciding that if I focused anymore on trying to decipher what the heck he meant by that, I turned my focus back onto the external situation at hand.

Everyone's face was some variation of shock, except Max's. Max's face was sort of more like a mixture of a warning and I was getting an intense "Oh, chiz. Not this again." vibe from her.

And then I had to ask, because the intense silence was beginning to really freak me out. "What happened?" I asked again, and the only response I got was another mental freak out by Nudge which I refused to listen to because I like my ears, even the mental ones.

And then, of all people, _Max_ shot up and said, "Can I talk to you for a second, Val? Thanks!"

With that, she grabbed my hand and we sped off in the general direction of the school, with Nudge suddenly jumping up and following behind me. I turned to look back for a second, and Demon had a rather obvious "What the hell?" look on his face. And then Max dragged me behind the first school corner.

We kept running for about two minutes, and the only reason that I didn't rip my arm away and run in the opposite direction was because I wanted to know why the heck _Max_ of all people was practically kidnapping me. Max had enough trouble deciphering her own emotions; there was little to no chance that she was trying to get me to figure out my own. And it's not like I could have just read her mind, seeing as Max is a freaking _master _at blocking her thoughts, what with Angel living with her for all of her life.

_Damn it. Effort will have to actually be made for this to work…_

"Max, why the hell am I being dragged like a rag doll?" I asked roughly, finally putting my foot down when she tried to push me into one of the empty classrooms.

Max finally turned around and the look in her eyes was… tired. "Don't_ ever_ tell your best friend to get a girlfriend. _**Ever**_."

I lifted an eyebrow, and at that moment, Nudge burst out from around the corner, the look in her eye blazing mad. _And now the fun begins._

Nudge stopped in front of me and immediately started glaring at me. "You just indirectly turned down the one guy that would have been the best husband for you! What the hell were you _**thinking**_?! You would have had such beautiful babies, with black hair and green eyes or hazel eyes. And they'd be all sarcastic and gorgeously tanned because they were related to both of you. WHY THE HELL DID YOU KILL THE CHILDREN?!"

Max and I both blinked twice, and then went, "What the hell?"

Nudge huffed, stomped her foot- _Are we reverting back to our 6 year old selves now?_- and said, "Well obviously, seeing as Val just shot down Demon indirectly, they aren't going to get together and get married and have 3 little children named Alexis, Tyler, and Jasmine who will all have wings and never be unspoiled because I will be their godmother. Jeez, Val, way to crush my dreams of being an aunt!"

And then her imagination started running wild, and I couldn't seem to pull out of Nudge's head fast enough to avoid the twisted daydream that Nudge had created inside of her obviously unstable head.

* * *

_A three year old girl came run__ning into the room, screaming at the top of her lungs. She had green eyes, and her black hair was curled slightly, like Demon's. "DADDY!!"_

_A much older- looking, shirtless Demon came from inside one of the rooms that were at the top of the stairs that had magically appeared in the background. His hair was sticking up all over the place, and he came down the stairs rubbing at his eyes blearily._

_Demon reached the bottom of the stairs and bent down to be level with the little girl's face. "What's wrong, Alexis, sweetheart? And where's your brother?"_

_Alexis latched onto Demon's leg, her voice much quieter than before. She looked up at Demon with a sort of reverence, and it didn't take me long to realize that she was a Daddy's girl. "Daddy, what are we going to do for mommy's birthday?"_

_Demon's eyes opened a little further, and I watched as a smile that I had never seen before took over the contours of his face. He looked more relaxed than I had ever seen him. Demon leaned down and was about to pick her up when all of a sudden another child ran into the room and latched onto Demon's other leg. "DADDY!"_

_As soon as he had stopped, I realized that this little boy had my ebony black hair and my old eyes. His foot was tapping slightly, and then he opened up his mouth to speak, I realized that he was like I was when I was younger. Except for, you know, being a boy. "Mom isn't up, right?"_

_Demon's small smile grew to be much more pronounced as he looked down at the other small child in front of him. "Hi to you too, Tyler. And no, she's not."_

_Tyler gave a small half smile, and he said very softly, "Can we finish baking cake?"_

_Demon looked over at Alexis, who was smiling up at him, in obvious agreement with her brother. Demon, with that same look of complete contentedness, nodded his head, and then both of the twins latched onto either of his legs and he walked awkwardly to the kitchen._

_In Nudge's mind, there was a fast- forward of time, and she skipped to the part where the entire kitchen was covered in a foiled attempt at baking. Demon and the kids were covered head to toe in what seemed to be baking mix, and they all froze their attempt at salvaging a cake out of the mess when they heard the creaking of stairs outside the door._

_Finally, the door of the kitchen opened, and I stepped in… with lots of baggage. __I'M PREGNANT?!_

_I was huge, maybe eight months along, and I could hardly walk. I was doing some sort of intense waddle that looked like it should have been left to the penguins, and my hair was a lot messed up. I was in a very large male shirt with a pair of shorts under it, and even though I looked a bit like a beached whale, I seemed so… happy. And… glowy-ish._

"_Who let Iggy in here?" Pregnant me asked as she waddled into the room, watching as her entire family suddenly looked more disappointed than before._

_Immediately, Tyler threw himself into my arms. "M-Mommy, I'm sowwy. W-we wanted to m-make you a c-cake, but we cou-couldn't and it went 'Boom!' and we couldn't s-stop it and th-then—"_

_Tyler started to cry softly, although he tried to keep going through the tears. I- meaning pregnant Valerie- shushed him quietly and tried to calm him down. He was obviously a mommy's boy, seeing as the crying stopped in a few minutes._

_Turning her/ my attention back to the rest of the victims of the explosion, she/ I said, "Honey, it's no big deal that you tried to bake me a cake. Besides, it's not like I need it when I looked like a blimp."_

_Demon looked a little unsatisfied. "But your birthday…"_

_Preggers- Me shrugged it off. "Is just another day in the year that tells me that I've been alive for 25 years."-_I'M ONLY 25?!-"_There's no need to be so excited about it."_

_Finally Pregnant Me waddled over to the other two members of our family. With great effort, I managed to pick up Alexis as well and hold them both in my arms. I kissed the twins' heads. "Thank you for trying, though, sweethearts. Mommy loves it."_

_Both of the twins flashed me bright smiles, and I set them down. "Now go and take those clothes off so that I can bathe you littluns!"_

_With the echoing pitter- patter of feet, Demon and I were the only ones left in the kitchen. We didn't really say all that much, opting to just stare at each other with content smiles on our faces. Finally, Demon pulled me a little closer to him- as close as he could with my rather large stomach in the way- and we swayed together silently for a while in the middle of the dirty kitchen. After a few minutes, we both opened our eyes and Demon took my chin in his hand, whispered, "Happy Birthday," and leaned forward…._

* * *

Having realized what the next scene was going to be, I pulled myself out of Nudge's mind and forced myself to not continue to look on at the scene while getting my breathing back under control. _It's never going to happen. Demon is never going to knock me up once, let alone three times. We are never going to get married and have Alexis, Tyler and the third baby on the way. He is never going to try to kiss me, and I will never ever want to know what his lips feel like. We grew up together; that would just be wrong. Like kissing your own brother._

Finally being able to get my head clear of all irrational thoughts implanted in my brain by Nudge, I gave her the worst death glare to ever be created and grounded out, "He is _not_ my boyfriend. We are _not_ getting married and having children together."_No matter how adorable they would be… wait, WHAT?!_

It's times like this when I really wonder if my developing the ability to read minds had screwed with some important other function of my brain. You know, like the rational thinking part.

Nudge pouted even more and kept going on with her strange and completely unbelievable ideas of Demon and I having a family together. "Pshh, well_ obviously_ not! Especially not after _**that**_ performance! Way to go, Val. You completely screwed up all possible chances!"

"HEY!! Not cool, Nu-_Monique_! What the heck is with you assuming that we're going to get married and he's going to knock me up thrice?! We are best friends ONLY!! Not like certain OTHER people!" I fired back at her, and as she was getting ready to start yelling at me again, Max stepped in.

"SHUT UP!! Both of you!" Nudge and I immediately quieted down, although we both kept the glaring game going.

Max inhaled deeply and then kept going with what she wanted to say. "Listen, both of you. I don't understand all this sudden stuff about three kids named Alexis, Tyler, and someone else, but I'm not going to even _try_ to figure that out if it came from Nudge's mind. Val, just listen to me when I say do not ever tell your best friend to go and date another girl. It will NEVER end well for you. Trust me, I know."

Immediately, Nudge and I turned our full attention to Max, who looked like she was caught up in her own thoughts. "What happened?" Nudge asked, while I just raised my eyebrows.

Max inhaled deeply, sighed loudly, and said, "It's nothing. Just don't do it." And just her luck, the bell rang and people started flooding out of classrooms.

"This isn't over, you know," Nudge said as we all started walking towards our lockers, which were on the other side of the school that I had been forcefully from. _Gee. Thanks Max._

"Not by a long shot," I added, enjoying the situation as Max groaned quietly. And then we nearly walked right into the giant massive slut parade that had assembled itself in front of us.

Led by Emily, Stripper in Training Number 2, and then the rest of the almost Bare Naked Ladies clan. And they didn't look that happy to see us. _Well what can I say? I have that affect on people._

They glared at us for a little while longer, and among Nudge, Max and I, it was silently decided that class could wait. Nudge crossed her arms, her face carefully blank. Max gave off a baby death glare with her hands on her hips, and I cocked one hip out to the side, crossed my arms like Nudge and raised an eyebrow in my patented "I am not interested, so why the hell are you here?" look.

Emily stepped up first. "Look, the girls and I aren't happy. So that means that no one's going to be happy."

_And let the fun begin._ "Well I sure ain't happy. You're standing in front of me and my eyes aren't closed." I shot back.

Emily's eyes squinted even more, and I allowed a small smirk to appear on my face. Stripper in Training Number 2 from earlier stepped forward and took over.

"Listen. Emily here wants Trent, I want Nick, and Hannah wants Jeff. Everyone knows that. But you three are getting in the way, even though everyone knows that whatever we want, we get. Otherwise someone's gonna have hell to pay."

Nudge did the commentary this time. "And what's your name, little stripper child?"

S.I.T. #2 was not particularly happy to be called that. In fact, she turned bright red. This time, Max couldn't resist trying to provoke them. "You know, red really isn't your color."

As I read the underlying tenseness in Max's voice, I realized that the only thing that could have possibly saved S.I.T. #2 from a rather bloody death by Max was that she didn't have red hair. With her dirty blonde hair, the most Max would do would probably be to beat her black and blue or something. _We're very violent when we want to be._

One of the ones that we hadn't seen before stepped up to try to regain control of the situation, even though it was clearly going in our favor. And judging from the crowd of people who had somewhat surrounded us and were making the big "ooh"ing noises whenever we said something, they thought the skank parade didn't have a chance against us either.

The final girl who had bright blue eye shadow opened her mouth, and even though the other two had fairly terrible voices, I flinched when I heard her start to speak. "Listen. I want Jeff, Emily wants Trent, and Stella wants Nick." –_Dang, y'all repetitive-_ "Just get out of our way, and we won't mess you up. We run this school, and we could make it hell for you if you disagreed with us."

And then, the rest of the mob of… girls behind the three main ones started nodding, putting on their "tough faces" and raising their fists.

I couldn't control myself: I started laughing. Max was grinning uncontrollably and Nudge was leaning over holding her stomach.

After a few moments, we managed to get ourselves back under control. Max went ahead and did most of the talking. "So you want us to leave our friends and family alone so that you can have your grimy way with them?"

This was really beginning to irritate me. "Pssh. Y'all mus' be trippin'."

Nudge chuckled in the middle of the silence, having understood what I had just said, and then Emily fake sighed. "Oh well. We tried to warn them. I guess they're just stupid _and _ugly."

And then I _really_ couldn't help myself: while the crowd was busy going "Ooh…", I walked up and punched Emily in the face. At first, I wasn't sure if it was light enough that it wouldn't kill her, but after she started cursing, I realized that I should have put a lot more into that right hook. _Damn._

I shrugged my shoulders, and I tried to keep my face innocent as I watched Emily get up, a bruise now rapidly forming on her cheek. Too bad that smirk kept pulling through the mask. "Oh well. I _tried_ to get you to realize that you should have just turned around and walked away before you got yourself hurt. I guess you're just hideous _and_ a dumb- ass."

And that was when the chanting of "Fight!" became the soundtrack of the slut parade getting their butts handed to them, seeing as they all came charging at us at once after my comment. Max cracked her knuckles, Nudge started bouncing on her toes, and I narrowed my eyes into a glare while rolling my shoulders back. _Oh, this is gonna be good._

About five minutes later, all members of the opposing side either had some form of a bruise on their body, were crying, or were crying because they had some form of a bruise on their body that they "didn't have enough make-up to cover up".

And Nudge and I had our arms around each others shoulders, while Max assessed the damage. None of us had a scratch. "Well, it's safe to say that all of them are going to live. Just with a very bruised ego and sense of pride."

Nudge and I chuckled and slapped a high five. The crowd had dispersed a little while ago, so we were the only ones in the hallway. Weaving our way through the overly done up teenagers, we made our way to our lockers, and I got my stuff for Science. Max walked off down the hallway with a wave, and Nudge and I made our way to the Science lab.

As soon as we walked through the door, everyone turned to look at us. Including the teacher, Mr. Fuller.

"Girls, is there any particular reason that you're both over fifteen minutes late to my class?" He asked, and I couldn't squish down the grin that was on my face.

Nudge started to say something, but I cut her off. "We had some… _business_ to attend to, Mr. Fuller."

Mr. Fuller narrowed his eyes, and I was having a lot of fun as I watched his brain try to figure out what the hell that meant. "Excuse me, Ms. McCarthy? What type of _business_ did you and Ms. Martinez have?"

Still fully on the post-fighting high, I grinned as Nudge put her arm over my shoulder, and I put mine over hers. And then, with its lovely timing, the intercom crackled to life. "Max Martinez, Monique Martinez, and Valerie McCarthy! Please report to the principal's office immediately!"

Once again, everyone's eyes were on us, and I toned down my grin to a smirk. Nudge beamed and, pointing to the intercom, said, "That's why." She then looked at me and said, "Shall we?"

"We shall."

We turned to walk out of the classroom, but we didn't leave before Nudge said, "And if anyone asks, I don't regret it."

"They had it comin'. We just brought it to 'em," I added, and we both strode out of the science lab, leaving behind nineteen very confused teachers and a very befuddled teacher who looked like Mark Twain.

Nudge and I strode along through the hallways, and were greeted by the sight of Max walking out of her History class. I let out a short chuckle as I saw that she hadn't had the chance to put her stuff down either. We made our way to the principal's office, and plopped down in the chairs in the waiting room.

The secretary looked up from her desk, peered at us from over the bridge of her nose, and then said, "Principal Waters will be with you shortly."

I turned back to Max and Nudge. Almost immediately, Nudge said, "I don't care what the punishment is. I have wanted to hit one of them ever since the second day of school when that slut named Hannah tried to trip me. It just went steadily down hill from there."

Max shrugged. "It's worth it," she said, and I nodded in agreement.

And then a tall brunette woman with strange grey-ish eyes stepped out from behind the door that said "Principal". She sighed, looked around with blood-shot eyes, and then her eyes fell on all three of us. She narrowed her eyes, trying to read us. Either that, or it was a glare telling us to get our feet off the reception seats, seeing as we had pretty much sprawled out on the three chairs; I was lying across two seats, my knees bent in the air. Nudge was sitting upright next to my head with her bent legs on the seat beside her, and Max had her head on Nudge's lap while she sprawled out along three and a half seats.

When we didn't move at all, she sighed again and said, "All right, you three. Come on."

Nudge, who had apparently decided that she was going to be the relatively good child out of all of us, asked, "Should we bring our stuff?"

The Principal looked over the three of us- Nudge, with her supposedly innocent face-_LIES!!_- was who she lingered on the longest, then raised an eyebrow and looked at Max and I. She sighed again- _She likes to do that, doesn't she?_-, and said, "Sure. Whatever."

We followed her into the office, and as soon as the door closed, she sat down on the edge of her desk. "Ok, what the hell, girls?"

I dropped my stuff in front of me and sat cross- legged in the chair. I put my elbow on my knee and cupped my chin in my hand, opting for the "I really don't care about being here. Just keep talking and I'll pretend like I'm listening to you" face.

Max didn't even bother sitting; she opted to lean against the wall by the window. Her arms were crossed and one foot was against the wall. She looked completely bored. _Ok, so obviously Max and I are playing the rebellious kids._

Nudge was sitting properly in her chair and almost looked completely innocent. Except for, you know, the slightly maniac glint in her eyes that you could only really see if you really knew Nudge.

Principal Waters crossed her arms and looked around the room at each of us. "Are you all insane? Why the hell would you…" She took a deep breath, and then started rubbing her temples.

"What possessed you all to go and attack 15 of your fellow students like that?" She finally managed to get out.

Nudge, keeping up the act of good child, answered with wide eyes. "But Principal Waters! They tried to attack us first! And then they started trying to curse us! And they threatened us! We asked politely for them to leave, but they wouldn't listen! We couldn't do anything."

Principal Waters looked at Nudge for a while, and then turned to Max. "Do you agree with that, Ms. Martinez?"

Max looked away from the window, and looked at the lady. "Yeah."

Waters then brought her gaze back to me. "And what about you, Ms. McCarthy? Do you agree with Monique?"

I slowly met her gaze and then shrugged one shoulder. "They wouldn't leave us alone, so they got what was coming to them."

Waters then got off her desk and started to pace. She walked around the room, and I got slightly squeamish, but I made sure that I showed no signs of discomfort.

Then, she stopped behind her desk. "Do any of you have anger management problems?"

Immediately, I stiffened completely, and I did all I could not to glance over at Max. _Aw, crap._

Nudge, barely hesitating, answered again. "Nope. We're all good at keeping our temper in check." _Jeez, Nudge. How are you saying all of this with a freaking straight face? Have you blocked out pretty much all memories of Max and I ever?_

Principal- woman sighed, and ran a hand down her face. "Listen, kids, I personally don't mind if you decide that you want to punch some people. Especially those girls, seeing as they've been causing trouble for me for a really long time. But I'm going to have to do something to make them feel a little better and not to come off as "unfair". So Monique, Valerie, you both have detention on Saturday. Max, you have detention on Friday. Sorry." My eyebrows furrowed a bit-_What the hell? Is she serious?_-, and then Waters just sat down behind her desk and poured herself a glass of whiskey.

With one last look at us, she said, "You can go now." And then she downed the glass.

_WHAT THE HELL?!_/ _**I am so confused./**_** What just happened?**

**

* * *

**

**_I liked writing this chapter. I've been on a sort of Naruto high lately, so the principal was modelled slightly off of Tsunade, if anyone cares to know. Oh, and the science teacher who looks like Mark Twain- Mr. Fuller- really does exist. He teaches chemistry in my school. He also looks a little like a very slim Santa Claus, and this has bee said in almost all the yearbooks that he has a picture in. He wins immensely._**

**_REVIEW!!_**

**_Peace, love, and, "Everything sounds better in Spanish. We just named the names of characters from a soap opera we're watching in spanish class along to a melody and you guys nearly cried because you thought it was a Spanish love ballad. Win.",_**

**_Skittles31_**


	36. Once more! Victory dances and Screwups

_**ALRIGHT!! Because it is Spring Break, I have realized that it would make no sense to just not update again during this lovely amount of free time. Never mind that I'm supposed to be using said free time to be doing my bio project. That isn't important. **_

_**BUT YES!! I HAVE WRITTEN THE NEXT CHAPTER OF DWF!! IN 2 DAYS!! BE PROUD, AS THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE!! EVER!! The closest I ever came to posting this fast was on the birthday of DWF.**_

**_Oh, and because I got a lot of confused reviews from various people on different things I would like to clear some stuff up. One, Val isn't Max's real, biological sister. She's no one's sister. She is only referred to as sister because everyone is close. Like in the Flock; none of them are really related, but Angel is Max's baby, Nudge is the talkative older sister, and Iggy is the totally awesome uncle/ big brother figure._**

**_Another thing, on the topic of the names, don't worry about the multitude of nicknames that half the characters have. I know a lot of you have gotten confused about that stuff in the past, and I'm really sorry. Don't even bother trying to memorize all of them, because most of them were a one time, never brought up again, type of thing. So just know that Valerie is Val, Demon is D, and that's pretty much it. Sorry again!_**

**_And now, disclaimer: No. Just no. Because I'm still not James Patterson, and it's never going to be that way. I'm still too angry at him to even consider the prospect of being him and owning Max Ride. I could think about being Stephanie Meyer, but I'm sort of still bitter against her because Leah isn't with Jacob. So, no again._**

**_And NOW, ON WITH THE STORY!!

* * *

_**

_**-Val POV-**_

_Ummm… At the slight risk of sounding like a complete airhead, what the hell? And…uh… yeah, that's all I got._

Max, Nudge and I were still sitting in semi- shock in Principal Waters' office. I couldn't get over the fact that she seemed like an older version of a teenager. Who _really_, really loved her alcohol.

Finally, after staring at the principal long enough, I managed to force myself out of my chair and say, "Yeah. Okay."

Picking up my messenger bag stiffly, I motioned to Nudge, who grabbed her book bag and walked out of the office with Max following behind us.

The door shut, and the secretary looked up at all three of us and our shocked faces. She sighed and said, "Yeah, that's what all the new kids look like. We've been trying to get her to quit drinking at school for a while now, but that's not really working out, as you can see…"

And then she went back to typing on her little keyboard like it was completely normal to tell three relatively new students that their principal had a problem with alcohol abuse. I shook my head in disbelief, then readjusted my shoulder strap and walked out the office.

Class was going to be over in about five minutes, so we didn't even bother going back to class. Instead, we opted for sitting outside on one of the benches that the school had decorating the way between the buildings. After crashing all over the bench and the sidewalk, we sat in silence, until Nudge broke the nice, noiseless atmosphere. _And I expected no less of her._

"Can I be the first to ask what the hell just happened in there?" She stated bluntly, and I nodded in agreement.

"Are principals even supposed to be drinking in school?" I added, resting my head against Nudge's knee, since I was the one sitting on the ground.

Nudge and I waited for Max to say something, but I have to say that I never expected the next thing that came out of her mouth: "I liked her."

We younger bird- children turned to face her, and Max shrugged. "She seemed pretty cool to me."

_Ah, Max. You never fail to disappoint me. I can__** never**__ predict what's going to come out of your mouth next._

"Explain please," Nudge said, not taking the classic Max moment with as much stride as I had.

Max shrugged. "She seemed pretty cool. She didn't care that we had knocked out all 18 of those other skank- bags, and the only reason that she even _gave_ us the punishment was because she had to come off as "fair". She was pretty cool."

I thought about Max's reasoning, and had to agree with her. Nudge, on the other hand? Not so much. She jumped up from where I was using her as a head rest- _Way to be considerate, Nudge darling…_- and turned around to give Max and I a mini rant. "What the heck?! Max, she was just telling us off, and then out of nowhere, she pulls out a bottle of whiskey _from her desk_! How does that not come off as odd to you?!"

I stepped in there. "That was pretty odd, but still. You've _got_ to admit that Waters _was_ cool."

Nudge threw her arms up into the air, and I snickered under my breath. It's just so easy to get Nudge flustered, not to mention fun. "I give up. I will _never _understand you two."

I smirked a little, meeting her questioning gaze. "I don't see why you try. I don't try to figure out what the heck goes on in your head."

At another wonderfully timed moment, the bell rang again, and I hopped up from where I was on the ground. "And now I have… aw, chiz. I have art now."

Max looked at me sideways, confused. "But I thought you liked art. The teacher's insane, lets you have paint fights, and she's a tad violent. You're a perfect fit."

I sighed, walking in the middle of our group. "Yeah, but I have art with _Skye_. She's gonna flip a chit or something when she sees me."

Max gave me a half sympathetic, half "I am so happy that I'm not in your shoes" look. I glared at her, and happily reminded her that Fang was in her class.

"And so, my dear, you are more screwed that I am," I said, and while Nudge walked away laughing at us, I stuck my tongue out at our older almost- sister and dashed into the safety of the art studio before Max could wrap her hands around my neck.

As soon as I walked into the art studio, everything got really quiet. My smile faded as I realized that _everyone_ was staring at me. I got really uncomfortable really fast, being reminded of the days back in the Institute, although I tried not to show it. Finally, I snapped, "_What_?"

Then, because the timing today was just impeccable, Emily walked in with an icepack on her cheek. She sent me a horrible glare, although I noticed with a swell of joy in my chest that she was clutching her shoulder bag so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.

And no, I am not a sadist. I just find that causing this girl to be uncomfortable and or in any type of emotional or physical pain makes my day. Two completely different subjects.

I cocked a hip out and crossed my arms again, the smirk making its way onto my face. Wordlessly, she turned and walked to her seat, slamming her stuff down upon arrival. I chuckled under my breath, muttered a word that rhymes with "itch", and took my regular seat next to the window.

A few seconds later, Skye came stomping in, and as soon as she made eye contact with me, her eyes narrowed. I rolled my eyes-_Here it comes…_- and watched as Skye almost stampeded down the aisle to seat herself beside me.

As soon as she had set her stuff down, she turned on me. "What did you do now, Valerie? I knew that the relative peace of this school couldn't hold up much longer with you here."

I turned to look at the front of the class room and made no eye contact with her. I tried to keep a straight face, and was failing horribly. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Skye narrowed her eyes at me, and just as she was about to keep talking, Kendra came in from the paint supply room.

Kendra was around Max's height, wore ripped up jeans pretty much all the time, and had black hair and dark brown eyes. She was the school's art teacher, and Max was right; she was my favorite teacher. First off, she let us get into paint fights. Second, she had that sarcastic, "I take no crap" attitude. Third, she was not afraid to speak her mind.

Plus, she let us call her by her first name, unlike the rest of the teachers at the school. She said that it made her sound like an old lady.

"Alright, people. We have to get some actual work done today. We can't have another paint fight like last time because that took forever to get out of my clothes. So, here's the agenda for today. We're doing self portraits! And no, I don't care if you think that you're ugly, fat, or in the middle. You have to draw what you see. Some of your stuff will be put on the bulletin board outside, and I don't want anybody coming and asking me "Who's that?" It should be pretty damn obvious. Any questions?" She said, and the glint in her eye told us that she wanted us to shut up and start, so no one put their hand up.

"Ok, go ahead. And don't bother me." Kendra started handing out large pieces of paper and pieces of charcoal. Then she sat cross- legged on her desk and started playing with a rubber band. That was another one of the more insane things about her; if you annoyed her in any way, she'd shoot a rubber band at you.

Immediately, I started working on penciling in my actual outline. I had learned a while ago that I suck at doing people standing up- _For some reason, everyone always ends up lop-sided or something..._- and did a rough outline of myself sitting down leaning against a tree. Photo me was going to be facing front, with one leg drawn up and the other bent under the first. I was supposed to be looking dead at the "camera", so to speak. I would figure out the rest of the details later.

And then, Skye went back to chewing me out, and started to whisper yell under her breath. "Val!"

I sighed, still not looking her dead in the eye. If I did, I would never be able to keep up the almost innocent act that I was trying to pull off. "What happened?"

Out of my peripheral vision, I saw her put down her piece of charcoal and turn fully towards me. "That's what I should be asking you."

I didn't answer, and Skye tried to approach the situation from a different angle. "You, Monique, and Max were all called to the principal's office. And then one of Emily's cronies walks into English and she has a forming black eye. Not to mention the fact that when Emily walked in with that bruise on her face, she glared at you like you were, I don't know, someone who was fully clothed. Or, you know, you. So, once again Val, what the heck happened?"

I finally put down the pencil that I was using and said to Skye's face, "I am not going to say anything. You're a smart girl, _Evelyn_, you can figure it out. And plus, if I even tell you, you're going to lecture me on why not to do it. When Nick, Jeff and Trent find out, they're going to chew me out enough. Sheesh, bunch of hypocrites…" I muttered under my breath, trying not to draw too much attention to our table.

Before Skye could say anything else, I gave her a look that said "End of discussion. _Drop it._" and went back to penciling myself in.

When I had managed to get most of the important elements down on paper, I was about to reach for my iPod when Kendra added in, "Oh yeah! You're allowed to use one color only to really add to the picture. It can be whatever color you want. Don't ask me anything about if the damn color looks good, okay? Pick one, and do whatever with it. If you ask me that question, or any form of it, I'm going to use that color and scribble all over your portrait with it. And then say that it looks good." With that, she went back to playing absent- mindedly with her rubber band.

For the remaining 25 minutes, Skye and I worked in silence. I mentally sighed. I sort of felt bad for brushing off her questions like that, but I preferred to keep it under wraps until everyone got together again after school. I hated repeating myself.

_And besides, Skye knows I'm stubborn, so she probably realized that this wasn't going to go her way from the beginning. So I shouldn't really feel that bad._ That thought made me feel a little bit better.

Finally, the bell rang, and I packed all of my stuff away into the back room and waited for Skye to finish getting all her stuff together before we walked out together.

As soon as we walked into the hallway, trying to get to math, everyone parted ways for us. I had to restrain myself from smirking. _Well obviously if they didn't know before, they know now._

Skye just looked a little angrier because she still didn't know what the heck was going on. _I'm not sure now if it's a good thing that we ignore school gossip or not._

As we walked into math class, one kid brushed past me, whispering in my ear, "Nice job." He kept walking past me, and I only saw his face when he turned and smiled at me over his shoulder. And, almost involuntarily, I half- smiled back.

I walked to my seat, which was in front of Blaze, behind Mira and beside Jinx. At the exact same time, they all turned to me and opened their mouths. Before I could even say anything, Skye stepped in. "Guys, don't even bother. She's not gonna say anything. I tried, but Val's unbelievably stubborn."

All three of them let out groans and turned back to their desks. Jinx tried one last time. "You sure you don't want to tell us anything?"

I chuckled a bit and took on an overly incredulous look. "Jason! I _never _said that I wouldn't tell you anything!"

Immediately, Mira spun around in her seat and Blaze leaped over his desk to get closer to the information that I might have been letting leak out.

I continued. "I never said that I wouldn't say anything…. I _said_ that I wouldn't say anything _yet_. Silly Jason," I said, shaking my head, my smirk fully back on my face.

All three of them groaned even louder than before. Mira shot me a wordless glare, and Jinx said, "_Not_ cool, Val." Blaze walked almost dejectedly back to his seat, and Skye, who sits next to him, rubbed his back for him comfortingly. "I told you. I don't know why in the world you got your hopes up."

I chuckled to myself again, busying myself with writing down all the stuff that Ms. Gutierrez had started writing on the board immediately after she walked in. This was the one class that I didn't have to really worry about anyone trying to bug me in, seeing as Ms. G went through her lessons so fast you had to really work to keep up. Or, you know, possess vampire speed.

Seeing as it was the last class of the day, I was getting a little worried about how Demon was going to take the reason. Well, not just him. I was wondering if Fang and Iggy were going to flip out over the amount of people we had… incapacitated.

_Oh well. It's not like they could go back in time and see what happened and stop it from happening._

Math class passed by in a blur, partially because I was daydreaming so much. _Eh, I'll get notes from Skye later._ Packing my stuff up, I walked out with Jinx practically hopping beside me with glee. I rolled my eyes and stopped outside of my locker to drop off and pick up whatever books I would need before heading outside to face ultimate doom.

When I got outside, I was met with a large round of applause from a surprisingly large amount of other kids. Jinx elbowed me in the side, whispering shouting, "Take a bow!"

Playing along, I did a little mock bow and kept going on my way, a smile now on my face. At least until I got to where the rest of my larger band of not- entirely- winged misfits were waiting under a tree.

"Oh dear," I said to myself, and I tried to nonchalantly leave the premises without being noticed.

Then Max saw the look on my face and shook her head. _**Don't even bother,**_ she thought at me. _**It didn't work. He'll just drag you back, kicking and screaming.**_

It was after she sent that message that I realized that Fang was acting as her bodyguard, making sure that she didn't run away. To add to the horridness of the situation, Demon was standing beside Fang, staring dead at me and ready to run if I did. _Yup. I'm screwed._

Even with death by fellow bird children staring me dead in the face, I held my head up high and walked over to the tree where everyone had gathered. Skye and Mira walked along behind me, humming a funeral march under their breath. _Damn you both. I will come back and haunt you after I die._

We reached the tree and after I dropped my bag by the tree where everyone else's stuff was, I was immediately flanked by Nudge on one side and Max on the other. Facing us were Iggy, Fang, and Demon. Behind them was the rest of our larger Flock- including the non-winged people, the twins and Nessie. _And let the trial begin._

After staring at each other defiantly for a few moments, Iggy pierced the silence. "Okay, what the hell happened?" I had to chuckle, because he sounded so much like Nudge had right after the principal incident.

I was about to answer when Max elbowed me in the side and pointed toward the entrance of the school behind us. I turned, and had an intense sense of déjà vu.

There was the Skank Parade _again _–_Do they give up?_- with Stella, Emily, and Hannah leading them over. I could already feel the evil grin setting itself on my face. "What's up, Emily?" I called from across the now almost empty parking lot. I could feel Demon's stare burning into my back, and I rolled my shoulders to try to shake of the uncomfortable feeling of being watched.

Her face turned bright red- _Sigh. Still not a good color for her…._-and she stomped over, the rest of the skank parade falling in line behind her.

Nudge leaned on my shoulder with her elbow and Max took one step forward. I held her back with a hand on her shoulder and a look. _Pssh. No anger management problems my foot._

Soon all 18 members of the school's street corner crew were standing in front of us. And they all looked really pissed off. _Yup. I still got it._

Demon conscience popped in his few words. _You never lost it._

Almost narrowing my eyes externally, I mentally glared. _I need to put you in a box before they put me in the happy house._

Stella- the one who liked Fnick- stepped forward first. She glared at all of us before saying, "We just wanted you to know that as of right now, your time at this school is going to be a living nightmare."

Max snorted. "Why? Are more of you coming?"

Emily burst forward, still obviously steaming about our little chat earlier. "Why you little-" _Well obviously she's the loose cannon of the bunch…_

She attempted to lunge at Max, who ducked under her arms and got out of the way. Emily blinked a few times and was confused when she realized that she was a) not choking Max or something, and b) standing beside Nudge and I, who were waving at her enthusiastically. Or at least, Nudge was. "Hi!"

Emily recovered quickly and stuck a finger in my face. "YOU!! You, you, you—"

I interrupted her, moving her hand to the side. "Shh. Don't think too hard about the next word. Your brain might explode."

Her face turned even redder. "You witch!"

I clapped my hand together, lighting up. "See! I told you a word would come to you! But you'd better sit down. That must have taken a lot out of you."

And with her claws once again ready, Emily launched at me. I quickly ducked under her arms and spun away from her. I then did a little backwards dancing, and Max laughed at me. "Too slow. Too slow."

Hannah managed to keep calm, an astonishing feat, seeing as I could be the most annoying person ever when I really tried. "I don't get why you're trying," she said, and I looked over at Nudge. It was her turn. She immediately perked up.

"Try to provoke you guys? Oh, it's simple, really. It's really fun and doesn't take up that much time. And it's free." Insert classic innocent Nudge beam here.

Hannah shook her head, glaring at Nudge. "No, you idiot." And then the fake thinking look came back. "I don't get why you're trying so hard to keep them away from us. I mean, we're obviously prettier, and the guys totally want us. I mean, who doesn't? Right Jeff?"

Nudge let out a sarcastic chuckle, and answered back before Iggy even got a chance to say anything. "Oh, Hannah. I don't think that you realize it, but Jeff takes _out_ the trash. He doesn't keep it with him."

"Oh, nice one, Niquey!" I said, strutting over to give her a high- 5. Max was too busy laughing at the look on Hannah's face to high- 5 anyone.

Finally, one of the lower level skanks in the general crowd piped up, seeing as all three of her leaders were frozen in shock. "This isn't over, you know! You can't just insult us like this and expect to get away with it!"

Max assumed my default pose- arms crossed, hip cocked out, one eyebrow raised- and said, "Watch us."

I chipped in my last few words too. Yes, I do have a problem with not having the last word. "Now shut up and get back to your stripper poles!"

There was a collective shriek of indignation and then slowly, they started to trickle out one by one. Finally, the only ones left were the few random students that were nowhere near us, we winged children, and the McCarthys.

Most of the aforementioned people still wanted an explanation for the reason why the skank parade was after us in the first place and now had an assortment of bruises and black eyes. _Oh yeah. That problem still remains._

Nudge and I looked at each other, mentally debated making a run for it, decided against it, and then proceeded to begin victory dancing on the spot. Max stood there smirking off in the direction of the retreating fan girls.

Hope cracked first. "Ok, what the hell was that?"

Nudge and I continued to victory dance, deciding that this was a much better way of avoiding questioning. Max, on the other hand, was involved in an intense staring competition and silent conversation. And I think Fang was winning.

Finally, Max cracked under the pressure. "I would just like for it to be known that it wasn't our fault. They started it."

"Real smooth, Max," I muttered under my breath, stopping the victory dancing.

"Keep going," Demon said, the first thing he'd said since I got outside.

And then the Nudge Channel turned on. "Well, all of them blocked our way in the hall after we ran away from you guys and were all like 'Stay away from my man or we're gonna hurt you!' And then Val was all sarcastic and pissed them off some more—"

All heads snapped my way. "Traitors. Both of you."

Emmett fist- pumped. "I knew Val was probably the one to start it! Jasper! You owe me $15!"

As the money was handed over to Emmett, Jasper turned my way. "Why, Val? Your self control is amazing, but why do you have such terrible anger management issues?"

I shot him a death glare, and he took a step back. _Ha! Win!!... And this doesn't prove anything!_

Nudge continued. "Anyway, I looked fun, so Max and I started saying sarcastic stuff too. And then Emily said something really nasty and Val punched her in the face—"

Once again, all heads snapped my way. "No, I do not have anger management problems. Stop looking at me like that!"

Fang sighed. "Oh, Valerie…"

Nudge started up again. "And then she said something sarcastic again with that evil glint in her eyes—"

"Val, we need to get you help."

"I swear I will knit your intestines into a sweater if you do not shut up, Jeff."

"Shutting up."

"And then we kicked their butts, left them in the hallway groaning, tried to go to class, got called the principal's office instead, and then finally we learned that we have detention. Oh, and the principal here? She _DRINKS_! And, uh, yeah. That's it."

"I knew she never got over that," Max muttered to me.

"This is _Monique_ we're talking about. You _really_ expected her to drop it?" I snapped back under my breath.

Shawn interrupted. "Ok. I'm sorry. I might have missed something. So they were angry because…"

Contributing to the conversation, but only because Nudge and Max were glaring at me, I sighed and said, "The head three hoes want Jeff, Nick, and Trent. We're apparently standing in their way of getting them. To make a long story short, they want us out of the picture."

Demon thought that through and then tried to clarify. "So, you knocked out a whole bunch of almost naked girls and got detention just so that you could save me from a bunch of potential stalkers?"

I turned to face him and nodded. He stared at me for a little while, and then snatched me into a bear hug. "GAH!!"

Holding me in the air a little away from him, he beamed at me. "Thank you, Val."

I smiled, a little confused. "Umm, you're welcome. Anyway, it was enjoyable, beating the mascara out of her."

He shook his head, lowering me to the ground. "You really do have anger issues."

I pouted a little, putting my hands on my hips. "No! And besides, if you'd heard what she'd said you would have decked her too."

Demon shook his head again. "Nope. Val, you have always been the violent one."

I narrowed my eyes. "Name one time when I have been violent besides this episode."

Demon immediately shot back. "We were in the orphanage in NY. One of the parents came to meet you, and you didn't like him. So when he came in, you jumped out of your chair and kicked him in the shin."

Translating that memory into the real one, I smiled fondly. "Oh yeah…" Then I snapped out of it. "That doesn't mean I'm violent!"

Demon shot out another memory. "We had left the orphanage to get the groceries. We walked along one block and a guy came up to us asking you for the time or something. I can't remember. But anyway, he walked up and you immediately shouted, "No! Get away from me, you creep!" Then you punched him in the stomach and ran in the other direction."

I shrugged. "He was looking at me funny. And that just proves that I have people problems, not that I'm overly violent."

Demon rolled his eyes. "Ok. I'm going to tell you this one, and you can not possibly deny the fact that you need anger management. We were out on the street and a woman saw us. She was a little old lady and she was wearing a—"

I was suddenly struck by the same memory and felt the intense need to blush. I recited along with him, "—A burgundy sweater and a black skirt."

Demon smirked. _Stupid evil demon child._ "Oh, so you remember what happened after that?" _You're enjoying this aren't you, you butthole._

"Yeah…"

"And you still deny the fact that you have violent tendencies?" Demon said, with that stupid sexy smirk on his face. _Wait, what?!_

I shook my head to get that completely untrue lie out of my head. And then what Demon had said set in, and I pouted. "No."

Demon smiled, and I was suddenly reminded of the smile that was on older- Demon's face when he looked at our kids. _Oh jeebus, Nudge. What the hell did you do?_ "Don't worry. You're _my_ violent Valerie."

And then he pulled me close and kissed my forehead. And we both froze. _Did he just…?_

I jumped back from Demon, both of us wide-eyed. And I couldn't breathe all that well anymore. "Oh my gosh…" I whispered under my breath, and then, as if what had just happened wasn't awkward enough, I was suddenly looking back at the Demon from Nudge's sick fantasy.

Before anyone could say anything, I had my bag thrown across my body and was shakily walking to the McCarthy car. "Bye guys," I yelled over my shoulder, throwing my stuff into the back of Emmett's jeep and leaving everyone else- including Emmett, who was the one who was supposed to be driving me home anyway- standing in shock.

Iggy's, "Oh shit" was the last thing that I heard before I locked myself in the jeep…Well, that, and Emmett's "...Wait, how the hell did she get my keys?"

I put my head in my slightly shaking hands and groaned. "This _can't_ be happening…"

And the stupid piece of skin where Demon had..._kissed- Jeez, I can't even think the stupid word!_- me was _still_ burning. _Crap._

_

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_**Don't get too excited. I could just as easily make all of you want to turn around and kill me in my sleep. So don't get your hopes too high. I don't want to accidently kill you guys or something. There's still a lot more to this story.**_

_**But how did you like the chapter? I loved writing it, even though I was half watching Ugly Betty and some new show called Jerseylicious while I was writing it. (Please don't ask. I don't understand myself most of the time, but I just roll with it anyway.)**_

_**So, yeah. REVIEW PLEASE!!**_

_**Peace, love, and:-**_

Child one: Hey, do you want to play on the swings?

Child two: No.

Child one: So what do you want to do?

Child two: Acheive world peace.

Child one: Cool.

**_a.k.a. Skittles31_**


	37. To the JASPERMOBILE! Sleepytime Awws

_**OK, so I'm sorry that this chapter update is a little shorter than what I usually do, but I had to cut it off there otherwise the order would have been a little off and weird and all that. Not that I have anything against weirdness, but it would have annoyed me to no end.**_

**_Plus, I'm ACTUALLY working on my bio project today, which is crazy in itself, but I decided that I have to do something about this stupid thing otherwise I wouldn't have anything ready before I got back to school. And then I would fail bio. Which would not be good and I'm pretty sure that I'd be disowned or something._**

**_SO!! This is chapter 37!! And I hope you understand that being Valerie in the middle of a crisis such as the one that has presented itself is really difficult, and at the same time really fun. I can't begin to explain it to you, but it's awesome and sort of amazing and I guess that I'm a dork for trying to explain this to you guys when all you want to do is read the chappy. SO, without much more ado, HERE IS THE DISCLAIMER, AND THEN THE ACTUAL CHAPTER THAT YOU WANT!!_**

**_Disclaimer: The espionage mission didn't go so well, so no, I do not own either Max Ride or Twilight. However, I DO own the Demerie pair and Val's flock and Kami and the possible town of Wesley and all who reside in said town and the Refugees. So touch any of those owned things and people, and I swear you will end up floating down the Hudson. -schmilies!-_**

**_AND NOW, ON WITH THE STORY!!_**

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_**-Val POV-**_

I don't know how much time passed before I heard the door of the Jeep open and then shut again. I gently sniffed the air and recognized the slight scent of autumn leaves, old libraries and something else that reminded me of whipped cream or something light. _Jasper._

I didn't make any move to show him that I knew he was there, but Jasper didn't say anything. He silently started to rub my back, and I froze for a millisecond before relaxing again. That was the way our relationship worked; we didn't have to say anything to each other, but we'd get it. It was why he was my favorite vampire brother. I mean, Emmett was fun and completely awesome when you wanted to be completely silly, and Edward was good when you needed advice or someone to quarrel with, but Jasper was just about one of the best listeners and comforters when you needed one.

Plus, Emmett might be the strongest and Edward might be the fastest, but Jasper could sit in a corner of the room and do nothing and _still _make everyone jealous. He just won, in general.

We didn't say anything, but shortly after Jasper had gotten into the car, the others made their way in. Alice hopped in on my other side, Emmett and Rosalie got in the front, and Edward and Bella, from where I could track their minds, got into his car. Bella was making plans to come and visit me later on.

We pulled out of the parking lot, and the car ride was really quiet. Not even Alice talked on the way home, and Alice is like another Nudge channel, just not as intense. But I guess she wasn't in the mood for talking, and I really wasn't in the mood for attempting to create conversation after what had just occurred and instead attempted to keep my head from exploding with the amount of thoughts that were collecting inside of it.

Plus, Emmett knew when to shut up, Rosalie wasn't one to ever start a conversation, and Jasper could feel my irritation with the world growing.

Finally, when we were halfway home, Alice broke the tense silence. "Val… If I'd known, then I would have told you…."

I made some sort of unintelligible grumble from the back of my throat, and leaned over to lay my head on her shoulder, finally taking my hands away from my face. _It's ok. It's not your fault._

I let out a groan. "Eff my life."

Even through the awkwardness of the car ride, Emmett still cracked a smile from where I could see him in the rearview mirror.

With the daredevil driving that everyone in this insane vampire family seemed to possess, we reached home in the next 10 minutes.

I hopped out the car, grabbed my bag from the trunk and silently blazed my way into the house. When I was met with silence, I didn't freak out, knowing that the silence probably meant that Esme had taken Kami out to do something with her.

The first time that I'd come home to an empty house, I had pretty much gone into a silent rage. I was all over the place, opening and closing doors, checking each room, and overall internally freaking out while Jasper attempted- and failed- to send me calm waves. When the missing two had walked in about a half hour later, I had pretty much snatched Kami off the floor and smothered her to me. Well, as much as a cynical, sarcastic vampire bird girl can smother. I'd wanted to punch something in the worst way, but I wasn't sure how that would have gone. So instead, I opted for blankly staring at Esme and hoping that she understood the fact that I needed an explanation the next time she took Kami out, because she was my daughter, and I loved her more than my own life. Plus, it wasn't like I could just lock Kami up in my room. I knew for a fact that Esme was becoming a surrogate grandmother to Kami, and besides, Esme loved children. It would be considered cruel and unusual punishment to keep Esme from having her chance at being a mother.

Yes, I do have a heart. Don't seem so surprised.

I walked into the kitchen and ripped the note off the fridge door. In Esme's loopy handwriting, it said that they had gone out to restock the fridge, since Kami ate a lot for her age. _I'm really not sure if the appetite of the multiple DNA hybrids that she was living with at one point rubbed off on her or something._ I kept fiddling with the strap of my messenger bag and then almost ran out of the room, nearly knocking over Edward and Nessie in the process.

I ran up the stairs to my room, and stood in the doorway for a few seconds. Sighing, I looked around, and then flung my bag into some remote corner of the room and face- planted onto the bed. After screaming into the mattress, I flipped over and stared at the ceiling.

_I should kill him. I should bind him and gag him with a piece of cloth and then cut off his tongue…. God, that didn't even make any sense. The cloth would have prevented me from access to his tongue…. Oh dear. That sounded dirty. Ok, new plan! I should tie up his wings and then throw him off a remote cliff so that no one can find him… Except that Demon would probably see that coming and expect that. Plus, no one ever is allowed to touch the wings. Damn it!!...OK, I have it! I should tie him to a pole in front of the school and have the street corner crew throw him a party. This way he would get all the mental anguish needed in his punishment, but DAMN IT!! HE WON'T DIE!! Plan number four: OK, I should… I should…._

"Damn it! I don't know what the hell I should do!! This type of emotional 'best friend kisses you' crap only happens to Max!" I suddenly yelled, the intense urge to light something on fire becoming amazingly strong.

I was confused, to say the least, and so, _so_ angry. I jumped off the bed and started pacing, one of the things that I'm known best for.

"First of all, before I even _get_ to killing him, I have to ask him what the hell he was _THINKING_! Was he even thinking in the _first_ place? _No one_ decides while in the middle of a conversation with their _best friend_ about the fact that said best friend is violent that they are going to _**KISS THEM**_! _Even if_ it was only a kiss on the forehead! And where the hell does Demon get off pretending that he's his _brother_ and I'm _Max_? The last time that _**I**_ checked, I _was not_ eighteen, _still living_, a _brunette_ _**OR**_ in love with _Fnick_! I mean, _sure_, I _**act**_ like Max sometimes, and I'll give it to Demon that he and Fnick _look_ alike, but that _**SURE AS HELL**_ does _**NOT **_mean that you go and try to channel his _**inner lover boy**_ or something!! And _what _in the **name** of the _**Director's dirty gym shorts**_ possessed him to try all of this new lovey- doveyness on _me_?! He couldn't have tried all of this on some random _other_ high school girl with whom he has _**no **_history and _**does not**_ view as a sister and _**is not**_ his best friend? Best friends _**do not**_ kiss each other!! _**EVER**_!!... Unless they're Max and Fnick."

I was so busy rambling to myself that I didn't even realize that Jasper, Alice, and Bella had slipped into the room. Just as I was about to throw a random air punch where Demon's imaginary body was, I realized that I wasn't alone. Bella let out a little noise of hesitation, and then I flopped back onto my bed backwards.

"Please kill me. Or him. Or the both of us," I muttered, counting the sparkles on the ceiling.

Alice chuckled, that little pixie chuckle that still had that undertone of "I know something you don't". "Now Valerie, you know that wouldn't solve anything. You'd both just meet up in heaven again and it would be awkward."

I glared at the ceiling, now having lost count of where I had been. "You couldn't have just given me the benefit of ignorance and said, 'Oh Valerie, we would prefer to keep you both alive, so we'd just kill him to satisfy your irritation.'?"

Jasper chuckled, and I heard them all moving around to get more comfortable. "I hope you know that you're not angry enough that you would want us to kill him. You'd jump in front of him and try to protect him."

I blew a raspberry in his direction, flipping over on the bed and shedding my shoes. "Mleh- heh."

Bella came to sit next to me on the bed, and then she slowly started to play with my hair. I let her. "Val, this doesn't seem like it should be that big of a deal to you. I sort of expected you to just brush this off and say, "Ok, we're going to move on from this.""

I chuckled darkly. "Well, I'm not sure that I'd say "We're going to move on from this." I'd probably say something more like, "Don't ever kiss me again or I'll rip your lips off." Because I'm just violent like that, as Demon so kindly pointed out today before…" I swallowed heavily."… _the incident_."

I kept talking, only because these were the three McCarthys that were my age that I was comfortable with. "I grew up with Demon. Getting kissed by him is like freaking incest. I don't even know how the hell I'm gonna fix this or how he's supposed to fix this. We never had problems like this. We never tried to move any farther than a sibling relationship. And if he did anything to screw that up…. I don't know what I'd do."

Everyone was silent for a while, taking in what I had just said. Alice broke the silence. "You know, if you two didn't think that you were brother and sister, you two would make a nice looking couple…"

I immediately swung my head around to look at her. "Don't even joke like that. Ever."

She put her hands up to ward off my glare, and I made sure that the intensity of the glare heightened a little before I leapt off the bed. Bella had braided my hair and fastened it with one of her hair ties, and I didn't bother to take it out. "OK, because I am amazing at making sure that things I don't like never reach the light of day ever again and I really don't want to think of this incident anymore, Jasper, can we get started on those guitar lessons now?"

Everyone blinked at me. "And… that's it?" Bella asked. "You're just going to completely pretend that this never happened?"

I blinked at her. "Like what never happened?"

Alice then fell over, holding her head. "Oh my God!!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Umm, Alice? Are you okay?"

Alice glared at me. "GAH!! You are the most confusing person to live with!! My visions have been so completely _out of whack_ when it comes to you!! I am getting _headaches_!! Why won't you be more _**predictable**_?!"

I blinked twice, looking at the pixie who was now pointing her finger at me. "Umm, Jasper? Please control your wife."

Before Alice could kill me, I pretty much leapt out of the room and away from her murderous glare. "VALERIE!!"

"Muahaha." I muttered to myself, a smile on my face. Emmett, who just happened to be walking by, looked at me and asked, "You drank squirrel, didn't you?"

I beamed at him, yelled, "NO!", and then continued on my merry way. _TO THE JASPER- MOBILE!!…Also known as his motorcycle in the garage._

Edward looked up from where he was sitting on the couch channel surfing. "So, Valerie, are you okay now?" It occurred to me at that moment that yes, even though Edward could be a bit of a butt- face sometimes, he really cared. _Now everybody say "Aww.."_

_...Something is wrong with my head…_

"Ok from what?" I asked innocently.

His eyebrows furrowed and his head lowered in an attempt to seem more serious looking. "From the incident… with Demon…"

I tilted my head to the side. "What incident with Demon?"

Upstairs, only because my door was slightly open, I heard Alice give a muffled shriek. Now Edward looked a lot confused. "Umm, the one after school? With his developing fan- club? Where he kissed you, and then you got really confused? And angry? And scared? All at once?"

I shook my head and continued on my merry way to the garage. "I really don't understand what you're talking about, Edward. I don't remember anything like that ever happening to me."

If I wasn't so completely adamant about forgetting what had happened between Demon and I, I would have almost felt sorry for Penny. "But-"

"Nope!" I chirped, the evil devil Valerie on my shoulder cackling maniacally.

"Wait-" Edward tried again.

"Never!" I stopped him, and then left Eddie to try and figure out what had just happened.

I heard Jasper sigh, probably feeling the random emotions making their way through the house. Waiting by the door for the garage, I watched as he walked down the stairs and said, "She's barred her memory of the event."

Edward's confused face cleared up, and I waved at him cheerfully in the corner. Then Jasper shot me a look. "Do you enjoy causing people slight emotional pain?"

I beamed. "Yes, yes I do. Now away to the Jasper mobile!!"

I pretty much ran into the garage, leaving Jasper behind me shaking his head and Emmett yelling, "SQUIRRELS!!"

After we had both gotten onto the bike, I randomly pointed and said, "AWAY!!"

"Val? Please shut up."

* * *

_**--Several Hours Later—**_

Watching to make sure that Kami didn't wake up, I opened the window and jumped out, pulling my green hoodie over my head. After falling a few feet, I snapped open my wings and flapped, landing on the roof of the house. I listened to make sure that none of the couples had heard that I was gone, and then continued on my way.

About 15 minutes later, I had made it to the summer house and was trying to find Demon's window. After circling the house on foot vampire speed once, I finally found it. I tried to figure out how to get in, but then decided for the more Valerie- like approach.

I created a fire- ball and made it dance around in Demon's bedroom. Yes, when he woke up he'd probably think that he was hallucinating or something, but then again, he knew that I did crazy things like this.

After about 2 minutes, the window slid open and Demon's head popped out. From where I was sitting on a tree branch, I waved. He stared at me for a minute and then I whispered, "Come on."

Demon disappeared for a few seconds and then he reappeared with a sweatshirt on. He launched himself out the window and then flew over to my branch.

We were quiet, which seemed really wrong. And then he broke it. "So… why did you come here anyway?"

I shrugged, looking dead ahead. "I don't know. This seemed like a much better idea when I was back at the McCarthys' place…"

Demon chuckled and shook his head. "Just like you would. Impulsive."

I silently reached over and smacked him upside the head. He let out a small yelp, and then rubbing the back of his already messy head, he asked, "Do I _look_ like DiNozzo to you?"

I didn't dignify that question with an answer.

Finally, the silence got awkward again and I couldn't take it. I smacked Demon again. "Ow!! Jesus, woman!! What is wrong with you?!"

I finally turned to face him, deciding that it would be easier to just suck it up and get this over with. "Why did you kiss me?"

Demon, who had previously been muttering about the loss of brain cells, froze. He slowly turned away back toward me and then said, "Well… I don't know…"

I glared at him. "You _don't know_ why you **kissed** me?!" And then, because I was both pissed and, for some unknown reason, a little hurt, I jumped out of the tree. I stalked off into the forest surrounding the summer house and Demon cursed and followed after me.

I had gotten about 10 feet away when he finally caught up. "Val, would you please listen to me?"

I ignored him, and he tried again. "Val, this isn't going to solve anything if you don't listen!"

I kept walking, still angry. Finally, he got fed up and grabbed my upper arm, spinning me around to look at him. "Would you stop walking away and let me explain, damn it?!"

I was quiet, just looking into his eyes. I recognized this as the same voice as when we had come back from the first and last Bird Girl's Night Out, and his eyes were that same darker shade of green from before. This was the same voice that he used to push me against the wall. _Aww, crapplejacks._

Realizing that I wasn't going to run away, he let go of my arms and ran a hand through his already really screwed- up bed- head. I squashed my body's insane urge to fix his hair for him. _What the hell is wrong with me?_

Finally, his voice still husky from sleep, Demon gave me an answer. "I… It felt… like instinct…"

And now I was deeply confused. Even more than before."Um, what?"

Demon sighed again. "I don't know. It just seemed like…. I dunno… the… normal thing to do…"

I rubbed my temples. "Demon, if you are trying to annoy me and make my brain explode, then it's working."

Demon tried to clarify. "God, this is hard. Ok, what I mean is that it seemed… like I would do that usually, ok? I don't know, but I hope that it never happens again. I promise that I'll squish the urge, okay?"

I nodded, getting a bit of what he was saying, but that stupid pang in my chest didn't help the situation at all. "Alright."

And then, I think only because he was still half asleep, Demon kept rambling. "It's not that I don't think that you're pretty, because you are." _What the fudge?! Demon, stop talking! You are entering __**dangerous**__ territory!_"But I'm just your best friend, and best friends don't kiss each other. So I'll just never kiss you again and that'll be the end of it, okay?"

I blinked, pretty much shell- shocked. "Uh-huh."

Demon smiled. "Ok, then. So, are we good?"

I shook my head, laughing unbelievingly. "Yeah, we're good."

The smile on Demon's face got even brighter, and I couldn't help but laugh a little louder at the crazy look on his face. "D, you're delirious from lack of sleep. Go back and get some rest."

He nodded and turned around to go back, but stopped and turned back around. "Umm, Val?"

I tilted my head to the side. "Yeah?"

He looked kind of sheepish and wouldn't look me dead in the eye. "Umm, is it ok if I… you know… hug you?" _Is he serious?_

Realizing that he wasn't kidding and was really asking my permission to hug me, I ran the short distance and leapt into his arms. He stumbled a bit, not expecting that, but managed to stay upright.

With my arms around his neck, I whispered into his ear, "So long as you don't kiss me again, then yes, you may hug me as often as you like."

He laughed, and I could feel it run through my body because of how close I was to him. Then he tightened his arms around me and whispered, "You rock, V."

"Yeah, I know."

* * *

**_YAY!!!! You don't know how many mixed feelings that I have right now, because I'm sort of in love with the idea of these two just running off to Vegas and getting hitched. Or New Hampshire, if they're not old enough. But I have to keep them apart, otherwise the plot won't work. GAH!! I am torturing myself. Writing Dancing with Fire is such a masochistic pastime..._**

**_But, REVIEW!! Because you all love me!!! YAY!!_**

**_Peace, love, and:-_**

Me: Yeah, I have a semi- photographic memory.

Tati: REALLY?! Quick, what do I look like!? -looks away and looks back-

**_A.k.a. Skittles31_**


	38. Blushes and Favorite Lasagna of Truth

OK, before you all kill me, just one thing: Could you tell that I'd gone back to school?

_**I'm SOOOOOOO SORRY! This is the first time in all of these past few school weeks that I have been able to actually sit down and write out this chapter. Spring break has long since been over (in fact, the idea of Spring Break happening *now* amuses me. I'm closer to summer vacation now than anything else...), and I went back some Tuesday ago. Not cool. And then I had to write out my entire history term paper—never fun, by the way—and seeing as I am the PRINCESS of the land of PROCRASTANTIA, the land where everyone procrastinates and leave things until the last minute, that paper—which ended up being a lovely 15 pages with references, a title page, endnotes, and a bibliography—was done all on Friday night, Saturday, and 5 hours on Sunday. That takes some amount of skill, I must say, considering that when I started I didn't even have a thesis. I consider this a history win.**_

_**BUT, I will say from now that this chapter marks the return of the very, VERY sporadic chappy posts.**_

_**Anyway, yeah, this is (finally) chapter 38 of Dancing with Fire. HOPE YOU LIKEY!**_

_**Disclaimer: Even though the thought of James Patterson has not made me angry today, I still do not own Maximum Ride. And Stephenie Meyer won't return my phone calls. WHY?**_

_**And now, ON WITH THE STORY!**_

* * *

_**--Skye POV—**_

_**(A.N. Because we have to start with something totally new and uber-special!... Okay, I'll stop now…)**_

I rested my head on Blaze's shoulder, resting under what had been unofficially named "our"- as in Val's Flock's, Max's Flock's, and the McCarthys'- tree and waiting for the rest of the varyingly crazy members of our family. Our teacher had been absent for last period, so we were allowed to leave early. Except that Blaze and I couldn't really leave without alarming the rest of our winged family into storming Itex and trying to "save" us.

We're all just really impulsive like that. Especially Max and Valerie.

I sighed, as I thought of what had happened to Shadow yesterday with Demon. If that didn't say impulsive, I didn't know what else did. I've always been pretty good at reading people, and so I knew immediately that Shadow was going to freak out from the look on her face after Demon pulled his lips away from her forehead. Plus, I had been the one that she was closest to in her Flock before Demon had "come back from the dead", so I knew Val pretty well. I have to say though that it sort of hurt a little to be dropped like a sack of hot potatoes when Demon came back into the picture, but I knew that Val hadn't meant it. Val, I'd come to realize, was one of those people who threw all of her effort into one thing, and then paid very little attention to anything else. When she realized that Demon was back, she put everything into making up for lost time and catching up with him. And I, even though I don't think she meant to, was left on the sidelines.

Plus, there was the entire thing about how she was almost falling for him. I chuckled and remembered her vow to never, ever do the cliché. **Oh, how the mighty have fallen…**

I sighed again, another thought somewhat linked to Valerie occurring to me. **What were we all going to do about school?**

Technically, we'd said that we were only going to stay in school until we found Val, and then keep going as if nothing happened. Now that we'd enrolled ourselves in school, it was going to be significantly harder to just remove ourselves from the face of the earth without making a scene. I pursed my lips. **This is why all the leading is left to Max and Val…**

Blaze poked me in the side, and I turned to face him. "What's wrong?" he asked bluntly, and he pulled me over so that I was sitting in between his legs. I blinked and blushed, shocked because Blaze was usually not one for physical contact. I mean, I liked him for it and all, but, seriously, this was on the verge of apocalyptic.

Shaking it off and controlling the blood rushing to my face, I started to play with my fingers. "What are we gonna do for school and all that? Do we stay and wait until the Erasers show up, or do we leave now and avoid anyone possibly coming after us now?"

Blaze was silent, and I waited for the maybe half sentence response that was sure to come. Then, he spoke, and I felt his chest rumble with the words. "Well, I'm not Shadow, but I think that it would make sense for us to stay."

I didn't wait for him to say anything else, because that was just Blaze. Blaze was all "Hn"s and "Mm"s and monotones if you tried to get him to speak. I didn't try to get him to say anything else. Besides, even though he didn't say it, he probably had a good reason.

The bell rang, and we waited for everyone else to make it to our tree. The first person we saw was Hope, who came running straight at us like a bat out of heck. "GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUYYYYYS!"

"Uh- oh," I said, rolling off of Blaze's lap and opting to sit next to him instead. I was probably the shyer one about our relationship, but I had always been the overall shy one in the Flock. Yeah, yeah, I know that it's completely out of the ordinary for a teenage mutant bird kid, but then again, there is no real "normal" setting for us.

Hope suddenly appeared in front of us, and I blinked, wondering where the heck she came from. "Somewhere over a rainbow!" Hope sang, and I wondered what the heck she was talking about.

Seeing both of our blank stares—well, my blank stare and Blaze's default face, Hope rolled her eyes and said, "You said it out loud." I nodded in response and then moved on to the next order of business. I was a little weary, because usually whenever Hope had that look of complete euphoria on her face, it meant something really confusing and, in a nutshell, really bad for us.

The last time that specific smile of Hope's had made an appearance, I wasn't able to get the peanut butter fully out of my hair for about two days. But still, I had to ask if I wanted to live and get out of the way of the giant spreading of chaos that was about to most likely happen.

"Umm, Hope? Why are you smiling like that?" I asked, extremely cautious, and getting ready to leap up and run away if whatever plan she had was not Skye-proof.

She beamed a little wider. I cringed backwards into the tree, and then Hope rolled her eyes. "You act as if I'm going to get you killed or something!" She chuckled.

My eyes involuntarily widened. "YOU WOULD!" A few of the students passing by stopped and stared at me, and I blushed rather violently. Blaze chuckled very quietly under his breath and Hope flopped herself onto the grass, laying her head on my lap.

"You know, you're the only one out of all of us who's self-conscious, Skye," Hope said quietly, staring up at my still pinkish face. "Why is that?"

I stiffened. Truth was, back at the Institute, everyone sort of had to go through different types of individual psychological and physical tests, along with the regular torture sessions that everyone went through as a group. My specialized experiments were slightly more focused on the mental aspect of things and how much information a mutant mind could retain, and starting at age 3, every time that I did something that seemed "wrong" to them, they would both shock me with a collar that they had wrapped around my neck _and_ laugh about it mockingly, talking about how "stupid" the experiment was and how I should be "put down" for my "lack of intelligence". I hated it—just like any normal person would hate it—but I never got over my fear of people laughing or staring at me. And this was high school, so I was pretty much dead from the beginning. I'd never told anyone, and I had blocked off the memories of the incidents as much as possible. I always thought that having gone through that type of test while something much more horrible had happened to everyone else made me one of the weaker ones in the Flock, but I never said anything. First off, no one would have liked the fact that I had gone into their memories without asking them, and secondly, I hated looking weak.

I shrugged my shoulders, finally managing to unfreeze myself and seem like this question didn't cause that much thinking. "I dunno. All of you are just weird, I guess…"

Hope vehemently shook her head, and at the same time I realized that I must have been doing really well in English class if I was using words like "vehemently". "Nope! We can't be the weird ones because there are more of us being… weird. So YOU'RE the weird one, weirdo!" By the end of her little attempt at logic, Hope had pointed a finger in my face and I nearly got my eye poked out. **And this is what I was talking about.**

I tried to combat Hope's insane logic. "But you just said that you guys were being weird."

Hope giggled and said, "Silly Skye. I never said anything of the sort. Now why are you all self- conscious?"

I was still confused. "But you just—"

"Why?" Hope was relentless in asking me her question, which was her way of saying that she wanted to move on from the other topic. I rubbed my forehead; my head was starting to hurt.

"I dunno. Someone out of all of us has to be the self conscious one, what with Val being the leader one, Mira being the loud one, Blaze the silent one, Shawn the jock-ish one, and you and Jinx the padded- cell ones." I reasoned, pushing my fingers together absent- mindedly.

Hope stared up at my face, and when she didn't waver for about 2 minutes, I started to glow red again. "Could you please not do that?"

Then, so fast that she nearly knocked me over to the side, Hope launched upwards, and leapt in front of Jinx, who had come to stand in front of our tree as well. "Hi!"

Jinx beamed at her, but lately I had realized that his smiles were becoming a lot more bittersweet, and not really reaching his eyes. And Hope wasn't jumping into his arms like she used to every time that she saw him. I sighed. **Why the hell won't they just talk about it already?**

I was getting really tired of watching the Hyperactive Two just dance around the issue. I mean, it's absolutely hysterical the first few times you watch them interact with each other, but after the atmosphere gets all tense for the umpteenth time in a row, you tend to get really pissed off that the two of the won't just SUCK IT UP AND TELL EACH OTHER!

…I swear, I'm only like this in my head.

Anyway, the two of them were sort of just standing there super awkwardly, and I sighed out loud again. **Why do all of the couples in this flock have some sort of sickness when it comes to talking about their feelings?**

Just at that moment, Val had walked up. "You know, Eve, if you keep sighing like that, your head's going to deflate. What's up, hyperactive twosome? 'Sup, Brandon?"

And then, as if nothing had ever happened in the past two minutes before Val had gotten here with Mira, Hope and Jinx completely BS-ed their way out of the situation by turning to her at the same time and yelling in her face, "HI, VAL!"

Val rolled her eyes and said, "Who fed you two today?" Then after shaking her head at their large answering smiles, she turned to greet the rest of us. Her eyes trailed over all of us, landing on me. After about a second, I felt her probing my mind. Her face scrunched up a bit, and then I felt her presence leave my head.

And that was when Hope burst out with, "OH! Val, I had forgotten to ask you earlier, but do you want to come over and hang with us until tomorrow?"

Val immediately answered back with, "Oh yeah," She was still staring dead at me. "Lemme just get my stuff from the house and then I'll meet you guys at your house…." She paused for a little bit, and then said, "Evie, walk with me?"

Confused, I got up, feeling Blaze's gaze following me from behind, and wondered what the heck was about to happen. Hope, however, interrupted Val in the middle of her attempting to get me away from the others. "Wait, so that's it? I thought I would have to drag you away kicking and screaming… That would have been fun…"

Doing a little bit of a double take, I watched as Val shook her head. "Oh, Mel… What are we going to do with you?"

Hope beamed. "Love me forever?" In response, Val shrugged before pulling me off past the others who had finally gotten out of class. "We'll be back," she called over her shoulder at Mira's questioning gaze, and completely avoided mine.

We rounded a corner, entered an empty classroom, and shut the door. "What's wrong? Do we have to move?" I asked, immediately on the alert.

Val shook her head and sat on the desk top, criss-crossing her legs. She waved for me to do the same thing, and I hesitantly took a seat the right way.

She opened her mouth and then shut it again, wincing. She tried again, this time wording everything very carefully. "I…. _feel bad_ about sort of, you know, abandoning you after Demon came back. I didn't really realize that I had just left you in the lurch after he came back, and I'm… I feel _really bad_, so umm…."

After about the third word, I realized what the heck she was trying to say, and I had to smile. I loved Val to death, but she had some flaws. One was her massive weakness of a bed piled high with pillows; another was her inability to swallow her pride and say certain words and phrases.

One of the phrases being, "I'm sorry."

I smiled at her, and she looked very relieved that I had gotten her point. "So, umm, yeah. I'm… well, you know..."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, Val. I get it."

Then she smiled- a real smile- and said, "Okay, so moving on then. Do you guys want to stay in school?"

I blinked at her, slightly confused. "Umm, yeah, I guess. I mean, it's cool not being on the run right now and getting to stay in one place for more than a few days."

She nodded her head, looking half in the conversation, and half like she was daydreaming. Finally, after looking like nearly a statue for about a minute, she jumped off of the table and said, "Alright. We'll stay then."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What?"

She walked out of the room, grinning back at me over her shoulder. "We'll stay."

I was internally freaking out while I followed her, and trying my hardest not to pull a Hope and just start dancing through the hallways. "You mean… we've got a _real_ _home_ now? And we're going to go to school and be sort of normal for a change?"

Val had one of her many smirks on her face—the one that said "I know something that's going to make you want to love me even more"—and threw open the doors to the school yard, heading back to where all the others- including the twins, who must have made it over there when we were gone- were sitting under a tree, waiting for us. "Uh-huh."

**Valerie, would it kill you to use actual full words and sentences when talking with the rest of us?**

Unable to contain myself anymore, despite Val's annoying me with her unintelligible phrases, I launched myself at her and hugged her from behind. "GAH!" Val chuckled once under her breath when she heard me, and then again when she realized that I had turned red from everyone turning to look at me when I had leapt at her. "Oh, Eve…"

Emmett walked over to us, and Rosalie, even though she usually went with him everywhere-- within the limit of the bathroom-- stayed by the tree, although she seemed like she was really pissed off at Valerie for something—**Oh, Val. What have you done, because I'm pretty sure that Rosalie has looked at you like that ever since I met her...**—and didn't even budge, opting to glare at all of us both from afar. **She's kind of freaking me out.**

Val snorted, and I smiled a little bit more, still hanging on to Val's shoulders. Emmett got to us, and I looked up at him, readjusting so that I was slightly behind Val. Honestly, Emmett was really awesome and cool, but his size was sort of intimidating, and he reminded me a little of the Erasers.

"So, littlest sister," he directed at Val, "I heard from a certain hyperactive Melanie that you're having a party over at their house. You want to just go with them now, or come with us?" Emmett asked, and I had to smile because the McCarthys cared about Val so much. She never was very good at allowing people to take care of her, but this was good for her; being the sort-of baby of the family.

Val immediately jumped at the thought, and I realized that she still hadn't told the McCarthys where we lived or that we were the farthest thing from normal on this side of the universe. **You rock, Val.** I actually wasn't sure what the hell we were supposed to do if that ever came up in conversation….

* * *

**Them: Umm, so what's up with the wings on all of your backs?  
Us: -blank stares-  
Hope: It's Halloween again!**

**

* * *

**

Val let out a small laugh under her breath again, and then detached me from her body and walked back over to the tree. I walked back over to Blaze, and he immediately reached out and pulled me over to his side. I blushed a bit and tried to pull back, but he kept holding my hand, tucking me into his side. I flushed even more at the contact I made with his side, but I couldn't really bring myself to lift his arm up from where it lay draped over my shoulder. Mira shot me a small smile from where she was standing, coupled with a mouthed "I knew it!", and I flushed the brightest shade of red that has ever been seen on any almost all human being.

I turned up to look at Blaze. "Umm, Blaze, could you not…?" I whispered, wringing my hands in front of me. I didn't want to finish the question because Blaze knew _exactly_ what I was implying. That, and I couldn't get the words out.

He looked down at a still- blushing- profusely- me, and I could feel the redness that had slightly gone away come right back again as I looked at him for longer than a few seconds. And he still would not drop my gaze or let me go. Finally, after I had started feeling faint from all the blood rushing to my head, he nodded his head and opted for just holding my hand. It was slightly better and I wasn't having a coronary anymore. But I was still blushing, going the crimson way when Blaze absentmindedly stroked the back of my hand with his thumb.

Val's "Later!" was what brought me back to full reality and away from Blaze world. I shifted my point of focus from Blaze's hand holding mine and saw that the McCarthys were leaving. I waved shyly, and then turned back to Fang, who had taken over Max's role as leader since Max had detention today. He did a quick head count, and then started to lead us to the alley that we took off from after school each day. Mira magically appeared on one side of me as Blaze and I walked near the back of our group, and I instinctively moved closer to Blaze.

Mira chuckled. "You know, Skye, you two are really adorable. But I'd like to know when exactly this," she gestured to Blaze and I holding hands, "happened."

I looked up at Blaze for help—**Sooner or later, my neck is going to start cramping up because of my looking up at him constantly….** –but he didn't say anything, only pulling me a little bit away from Mira to round the corner that led to the alleyway. We walked in pairs of two in order to not attract too much attention from anyone passing by on the street. Once we got into the alleyway, we each did a quick "Up and Away", as Max called them. I whipped out my wings, and swerved away from Mira as soon as I got above the cover of the clouds. I tried to ignore Blaze's questioning gaze, since when I had swerved away from Mira, I had swerved away from him too, but I could feel the grey of his eyes trying to eat away at my back. I rolled back my shoulders once, and flew up next to Angel who gave me a sideways smile. I blushed—**How could I possibly forget that Ange was a mind-reader?**—and returned the smile, though not nearly as fully.

It seemed like my plan of keeping Blaze and I under wraps hadn't really worked out in my favor.

* * *

_**--One- and- a- Half Hours Later—**_

"Finally! I would have starved to death if you hadn't gotten here soon!" Hope yelled as she threw herself at Val's ankles when she walked through the door. Kami giggled from where she was seated against Val's hip, and Hope immediately shot up and said, "Hello, my favorite niece!"

Kami giggled some more, and then said, "Aunty Hope, I'm your only niece!"

Hope looked thoughtful about that for a second, and then shrugged, still not moving from her spot on the floor, hooked around Val's legs. "Hey, it's the thought that counts." **Umm, I don't think that saying applies here, Hope…**

Val, who was still unable to move by the doorway, looked down at where Hope was and said, "Umm, Crazy Number 1? If you really want food, I have to be able to get to your kitchen. This right here? That ain't really helping that."

Hope immediately shot up, and Kami got handed off to her while Val made her way to the kitchen. I followed her, along with half the rest of the house. We were all really hungry too.

"What took you so long, woman?" Shawn asked, watching as Val moved around the kitchen, looking for everything that she needed to feed 13 hungry bird-children and one normal human child.

She started to get out the tomato sauce, ricotta cheese, and some type of noodle. I recognized the stuff as my future dinner, a.k.a. lasagna. "You have no idea how difficult it is to convince them that I don't need a lift over to your place. Penny is nearly as stubborn as I am."

I could feel the question marks forming over all of our heads. "Umm, Penny?"

She turned around, looking at our confused faces, and then said, "Oh, sorry. Edward. Edward's nearly as stubborn as I am."

I tried to figure out how the heck she had gotten that name for him, when Mira started to laugh hysterically, repeating over and over, "His hair!" I started laughing too, realizing what she meant.

Val froze in the middle of the kitchen, looking around. "Yo, D? Where d'ya keep the pans?"

Demon pushed off from where he was against the fridge and pulled her over by the hand to the cupboards above the sink, where Jinx was sitting. Pushing Jinx out of the way, he opened them for her and handed her a wide, flat pan. She smiled up at him, taking the pan, and Demon ruffled her hair. She socked him in the shoulder wordlessly, and both walked away with smiles on their faces.

Meanwhile, every other person in the kitchen was shocked. "Wait, aren't you two still fighting?" Nudge finally burst out with, and everyone nodded in agreement.

Mira couldn't help but add on to what Nudge had said. "Yesterday, Val, you were upset with him because he, you know…" Mira trailed off uncertainly, and Val got that glint in her eye.

Valerie tilted her head to the side, looking suddenly confused. "Before he did what?"

Mira tried to dance around the topic. "Well, he, you know…"

Val was not letting Mira dance around anything. "He what?"

Demon, who had been chuckling quietly in the corner, finally came over to beside Val. "C'mon, Haze, cut it out. You're freaking her out."

Val pouted—**What the heck is going on?**-- and said, "But I was having so much fun…"

He put his hand on her shoulder, and looked her in the eye. "Val. I don't think Mira appreciates your sadistic ways as much as you do."

Val looked offended. "I'm not sadistic! ...I just take some amount of pleasure out of other people's misery."

Demon rolled his eyes. "Val."

Val sighed, "Fine. Spoil my fun, why don't you—"

Mira exploded again. "This is what we're talking about!" Demon and Valerie both turned to look at her with identical confused faces. **It's like they're twins or something. But then that would be really, really wrong… **Mira, seeing this, continued with her rant. "Yesterday, after school, after Fangirl Enemies 1-3 all explained the reasons _why _they were Fangirl Enemies 1-3, Demon… did that affectionate act which nearly caused all of us to have an aneurism. You two were not talking about it _**at all**_,— well, Val, I'm not sure about you, but Demon, I know for a _fact_ that you locked yourself in the boys' room and the rest of the boys were forced to sleep out in the living room—and then it was super awkward for all of us. And now, NOW, you two decide that to give us all _heart attacks_ by just talking to each other and acting as if yesterday _never happened._ Val, I would have **at least** expected that you act super calmly and then, when Demon was least expecting it, you would lunge at him like some type of deranged cat and beat some sense into him." I looked over at Val on this, and she seemed to be nodding her head in agreement thoughtfully. **What the heck is happening right now?** "This, this _ignorance_, on the other hand, I sort of want to _kill you_ **both** for, because you're going to_ kill_ **me** prematurely. So, _WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED_?"

Val winced at the volume that Mira had reached by the end, and, still covering her ears, she said, "Mirabelle, please. My ears love their super-powers. Please, don't crush their dreams."

While Mira was being sufficiently confused and Val was channeling the Hope side of her mind, I looked over at Demon. He was doing that Fang- grin, which was pretty much any other person's smirk. I think that he was enjoying being as sadistic as he claimed that Val was, seeing as neither of them was saying a_ single_ word to help clear up the confusion.

I tried to reach into Val's memory box, but there was a shield up by the time that I had gotten to the first memory. I stuck my tongue out at Val, who just smirked at me.

Under the pressure of not knowing, Nudge cracked. "Please, please, please, please tell us! Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please!"

Everyone's head turned to Nudge, who was doing the Bambi eyes. Val yelled, "No!", and then spun around, right into Demon's chest. Automatically, his arms came up around her, and then almost immediately after that, she jumped back, looking sheepishly at the ground. "Oops."

Demon was frozen too, and he forced a smile in her direction. "Didn't mean it either."

They were tense for a few more seconds, and Val rolled back her shoulders, slugging him half-heartedly in the arm. "Not again, got it?"

Demon smiled now—a _real_ smile—and nodded. "Sure."

Jinx cut in. "Not what again?"

Val finally gave up the hiding the nameless "it"—"it" being the reason why she and Demon were best friends again—from us and explained why she and Demon weren't so afraid of touching each other like they had been yesterday.

"We made up." **Well, that was informative, Val.**

Mira shot Val a glare, and Val rolled her eyes. "Fine. Don't get your undies in a bunch. I came over, we discussed how we were never going to let Demon do anything like that again—" **I bet that's code for "I forced Demon to swear to never do something like that again"…** "—and then he went back to sleep and I went home. The end. Now, whoever wants me to make them lasagna better get the hell outta da kitchen so that I can get to everything."

Somewhat satisfied with her answer, all of us filed out of the kitchen besides Demon, who stayed behind to help Val find the stuff that she didn't know where to find. Stopping in the living room hallway, I stopped to ask Val something. **Val?**

Her answer came to me almost instantly. _Yeah?_

**I just wanted to tell you thank you for not, you know, forgetting about me.**

There was silence on the other end, and then she came back. _I'd never do that to you. You know that, right? You're family._

**Right. **That may not seem like much to anybody else, but with Val, that was code for "You are one of the most important people in my life, and I really love you, sis. No lie." I could feel my eyes watering a little, and I smiled. Yes, I am aware that I am a sap. **Family… Thanks, V.**

_Sure thing. And then, if I ever do something like that without realizing it again, just come over and punch me, 'kay?_

There was the Val that I knew and loved. **Yeah, I got it.**

_Ok. Now get in the living room with the others already. Blaze is getting anxious._ I could practically see the mischievous little smirk that was on her face as she sent that thought to me, and I blushed when I realized that it meant that she knew about Blaze and I too. **Why do we have two mind-readers? That makes it impossible to have ANY secrets in this family.**

_Yeah, it kind of does, lover girl…_

**I hate you, Val.**

_Sure, just keep telling yourself that._

I couldn't help myself; I smiled at that authentic Valerie response, and walked into the living room, planting myself next to Blaze on the couch. In my mind, I heard a snicker that definitely wasn't mine, and the blush that I had almost gotten rid of in the hallway came back. I covered my cheeks with both hands, and mentally cursed Valerie for knowing exactly what buttons to push.

* * *

_**And finally, I have finished this chapter. Now, please don't kill me! Otherwise you won't get another chapter? Umm, yeah, that's all I got…**_

_**Oh, and LeshawnaSeville15, in relations to Skye and Blaze, I hope that you *especially* liked it. You know *exactly* what I'm talking about…. Now I'm seriously hoping that you don't kill me.**_

_**REVIEW!**_

_**Peace, love, and:-**_

-In Latin class- Sasha: Yeah! Why do people care what others think of them? You're never going to see them again anyway.

Valerie: What if you marry them?

Moe: Yeah! "You cheated on me! You a-hole! But it doesn't matter 'cause I'm never going to see you again!" "What?"

_**a.k.a. Skittles31**_

**_P.S. The underline thingy's broken again, I think.... Sorry...._**


	39. Sharing is Wearing! Rainbow Peoplebursts

_**Ok, so *maybe* I've been out of school for a week. And *maybe* I've just been super lazy. SO WHAT ABOUT THAT?**_

**_The point of it is that I have finally updated, and if I started one of these chapters with another "Ahh! Don't hurt me!" schpeel (Is there a right way to write that word?), it reallly would not have mattered anymore, considering that I think the last five chapters have started like that. _**

**_But on another note, I haven't just been super lazy; I've learned some family recipes (against my will), *not* flunked school (WOOH! NO MORE BIOLOGY!), sang for family members after I was volunteered for the job (thanks, Mom.), and cleaned out my bookbag from this year that's the size of a small toddler named Jose (I don't think you realize how liberating it is to rip up pretty much everything that has to do with Biology and/ or Early Modern World History. It's beautiful, and since I hated my history teacher, it was an even greater experience. So many "B-"s into the trash can... Such profound joy.)._**

**_On the other hand, I kept everything that had strange and random notes and conversationf on them from this year (you'd be surprised just how much of my stuff that is...), as well as all the printed out fanfictions that had accumulated over freshman year: a whopping 46 stories. (Yes, I am aware that I have a problem. A majority of my information on the real world and how different things work comes from this site!) I then held a funeral for my purple folder, which somehow managed to make it through this year, but died immediately afterwards. My grandmother is concerned for my health._**

**_BUT, when it comes down to it, the point of this rambling is to distract you from the fact that I haven't updated in forever and to announce to you all that DANCING WITH FIRE IS BACK! ENJOY THIS DISCLAIMER, THOUGH, FIRST!_**

**_Disclaimer: You know, actually, I gave James Patterson the idea for Maximum Ride because I didn't have time to write the entire thing. However, now that I see where he's gone with it, I really should order that he give it back to me... And Stephenie should be giving me half credit, since we pretty much wrote out the plot together. -Skittles31 shakes her head- And I own neither "Airplanes" by B.O.B. featuring Hayley Williams nor "Billionaire" by Travie McCoy featuring Bruno Mars. (Yes, I am that much of a nerd to put the "featuring" stuff in there too. And remember the proper grammer usage. BE JEALOUS OF MY NERDINESS! I WAS A FRESHMAN FREAK!)_**

**_AND NOW, ON WITH THE STORY! _**

* * *

_**-Val POV-**_

I "woke up" curled into a ball on the couch with my head in Demon's lap, one of his arms draped across my side, the other behind his head. Kami was curled up into his side, and both of them were snoring softly. I rubbed my eyes and rolled off of the couch at vampire speed, making sure that I didn't step on Shawn's face and I put a pillow in my place on the couch. Demon shifted a little restlessly as if he was about to wake up, but he quickly went back to his normal sleeping pattern. I let out a soft sigh and then jumped over the back of the couch, heading to the boys' room. _I need clothes. Hmm, how is this gonna go?_

I opened the door to the boys' room and looked around. It was empty, which made sense considering that all of us had pretty much dropped down dead on the floor. Fang had taken over the single chair in the living room, with Max leaning against one side of the chair and Gazzy on the other side, with Angel leaning on his knees in her sleep. Shawn and Mira were spooning in the middle of the room, since we had moved the table to the side to get space, and then there was the giant Blaze- Skye- Hope- Jinx ball of limbs that had happened somewhere around 2 o'clock in the morning, settling finally before they could roll over Iggy and Nudge, who were leaning against the sofa that Demon, Kami and I had taken over.

I looked at the floor of the bedroom, searching for one of the boys' shirts, since I had been stealing clothes from them since I had come over the day before. (I'd forgotten that we had clothes now that we could change earlier than "once they got too holey and/ or bloody to be deemed fashionable.") So I had "slept" in one of Demon's shirts and a pair of the unused boxers that was still in the pack, because there was not the Tiny Top Trio's chance in a nunnery that I was sleeping in someone's used boxers. _**(A.N. The Tiny Top Trio is Emily, Hannah, and Stella, by the way.)**_ I mean, I was all for closeness of family and all that jazz, but there was no way that I was about to share anything _that closely._

I looked through the chest of drawers and stole one of the plaid button- down shirts that Demon had been forced to buy because of Nudge, putting it on over my bra and the camisole that I had been wearing yesterday. I pulled on my jeans from yesterday and walked into the bathroom, attempting to braid my hair back. When that didn't work, I just threw it back in some sort of knot at the base of my neck, knowing that in a few minutes it was going to unravel. _Because my hair's just stubborn like that._

I strolled back into the living room and stood over Nudge, wondering how the heck I was going to wake her up, since she slept like a dead log.

Yes. Not a log, not like the dead, but a _dead log_.

Finally, I just gave up on doing anything nice and stood over her almost lifeless carcass with a glass of water in hand, ready to tilt it.

"If this gets on you, Iggy…" I trailed off, pouring the glass slightly on Nudge's face. Immediately, she shot upwards and started to splutter. As she turned to glare at me, I just started to grin.

Looking around, she quickly lowered her voice to a low yell. "One, what the hell did you do that for? And two, what the hell are you wearing?"

I shrugged at Nudge as she got up, still trying to ring out her hair before it got all frizzy. _Oh, I am evil when I want to be…_

I avoided answering her questions as best as I could. "It's 8:16. We have to be at the school for detention at 9. You had to wake up sometime. Just be thankful I didn't do something worse."

Nudge continued to glare at me, and I listened with slight amusement as she started to rant about all the things wrong with me in her head, ranging from my inability to wake people up normally to my shooting down of future husbands and indirect killing off of future children. _Oh, sweet Jesus, she's still complaining about that? What the hell?_

I rolled my eyes and turned to walk away from Nudge to empty the glass of water still in my hand. She disappeared into her room for a few seconds, coming back out dressed in a purple long- sleeved shirt with a sleeveless furry gray hoodie, a pair of dark jeans, and some brown boots with a one inch heel. In her hand was another green shirt with a black belt around the middle and some sort of hat. I raised an eyebrow.

"What the hell are those for?" I asked her, backing away slowly. Nudge had that maniac grin in her eye that always seemed to appear either right before she tackled someone, said something crazy, or attacked an Eraser. It was always best if you tried to sort of ease yourself out of the picture slowly at first, and then run for your life as soon as you were out of her range.

Nudge smiled at me, looking completely innocent. I inched away faster. "Your new change of clothes, of course!"

_Oh, this won't end well any time today._ "No."

Nudge cocked her head to the side, and that look of "I'm not planning to do anything" sent a shiver fully down my spine. "Why not? You'd look so cute!"

I shook my head and attempted to not run out of the kitchen screaming bloody murder; I like having my pride. Nudge kept coming forward, and I kept moving backwards. "I'm already dressed."

Nudge chuckled, and the maniac smile grew bigger. "You could just change really quickly!"

I tried another reason. "Those clothes probably don't fit me." I had now grabbed one of the spatulas that were lying on the counter and had it hidden behind my back. _I sincerely hope that I don't need it._

Nudge chuckled again, the gleam in her eyes getting more apparent. _Oh, crap. _"Val, you and I both know that you and Mira are practically the same size, even if you're both more filled out than the rest of us girls."

I scrunched up my nose. "It _really_ bothers me that you know that."

Nudge rolled her eyes and thrust the shirt forward. "Valerie, put on the clothes."

I shook my head, somewhat losing my Fang look of calmness as Nudge moved forward another step and I mirrored her. "No."

She huffed and stomped her foot. "Why not?"

I racked my brain for a reason that would get through to her. "Demon's clothes are comfortable!"

She stopped advancing and another gleam came into her eyes. Both of them this time. _Ah, crap._ "What was that, Val? Could you repeat?"

I got up from my slightly crouching position and narrowed my eyes a bit at her. "No… I sense that I have made some sort of horrible mistake… Never mind…"

She then narrowed her eyes at me and said, "Please, Val? You're so pretty, though! And then these clothes would make Mr. McCarthy have to beat away boys with a stick!"

I shuddered. "Excuse me, but I am not some prize to be won by a couple of boys!" I resisted the urge to stomp my foot.

Nudge then tried a different approach. She looked down, lowered her arms and then looked back up, her eyes in… _Oh no._

"Please?" Nudge said pleadingly, pulling the full-on Bambi eyes.

Shielding my eyes from her, I quickly said, "No!" I could feel my resolve weakening, but I turned around and walked out the door of the kitchen, making sure that everyone was still sleeping as I walked out of the house. Nudge followed behind me, still not giving up.

"Please?"

"No!"

"Please?"

"No!"

"Please?"

"NO!" _How is it that no one has woken up yet?_

The argument was obviously going nowhere for Nudge, so she reluctantly sighed and put the shirt—_Wait a minute, is that make-up that I just saw flash from under that pile of clothes?_—and hat down. She trudged out the door in front of me, grabbing her coat from the hook. I looked out after her and sighed, pulling on Mira's coat. I picked up the hat and put it on my head. Sticking my feet in my Converse High-tops, I walked out the door behind her. _I really hope that someone remembers to make food… Iggy, you had better wake up soon._

About 30 minutes after we had left, we arrived at school, and Nudge was still happy that she had been able to get me to at least wear the hat, which she had told me was called a fedora. I sighed and looked up at the sky, wondering what I had done in my past life to deserve the amount of audio torture that Nudge was treating me to.

"—And then Demon wanted to light up everything that I had put in the cart, saying that he wasn't going to wear it but then I got Iggy to make him some of the red velvet cake that you said that he likes and he was okay with the rest of it. You know, I really think that blackmail is fun, because then you can get people to do whatever you want them to do! It's just not fun when you're the one being blackmailed. That's gotta suck. Hey Val, have you ever been blackmailed before? Well, wait, I highly doubt that you have, seeing as you're all secretive and all that. You don't really say that much stuff to us that's not sarcastic, so I guess that the only person that would have something really blackmailable on you is Demon. Wait, is blackmailable even a word? Well, if it isn't, then I just made it one! Isn't that cool, how you can coin phrases like that? Sort of like Zora Neale Hurston in the Harlem Renaissance! She did a lot of coining, and I swear that the only reason that I even know that is because we went to school this year. You know, Val, we went to school before, but then we never got to finish it because the Erasers attacked? They take away every good thing that we've ever gotten. The only thing that they haven't taken apart yet is, well, us. I mean they've tried, but we won't let them! I mean, we're famil—"

I smacked my hand over Nudge's mouth, having reached my limit. _Honestly, if I listen to her ramble for any longer, the school's going to need a new school._ "Nudge, I love you to death. Please stop talking. Remember how I said that my ears like their superpowers? They still do."

She gave a muffled noise of approval and I let out a sigh of relief, walking forward into the building. It was about 8:50, and I could hear people's minds in the auditorium. I looked up at the bulletin board that was in the front of the school and saw the giant sign that said "Detention: Auditorium". I sighed, and pulled Nudge along with me to the auditorium.

There was loud laughter, and there were already 2 people there from my grade. _Oh, so we're doing detention according to grade. That would explain why Max was forced to go alone… Not like I'm complaining._ Not to mention—

"VALERIE! What the fuck!" Kendra was our detention supervisor.

I winced a little bit, but managed to keep a look of calm on my face while she looked at me. "'Sup, Kendra?"

Nudge elbowed me in the side and muttered under her breath, "You don't talk like that to a teacher!"

I whispered back to her, "Well yeah, you do, if that teacher's Kendra!"

We made our way down the center runway that led to the stage in the front of the gym, and I climbed up onto the stage. Nudge took the stairs, and I rolled my eyes at her normalness.

Kendra was still staring at me wide-eyed. "What the hell? What did you do, Val?"

I shrugged my shoulders, wondering why she hadn't already heard about the entire almost- but- not- really- bar- fight that I'd gotten into. "Knocked out a few kids. But they deserved it, so it's no real big deal."

Kendra's eyes returned to normal size, and her mouth pulled into a smirk. "I knew it. You always did seem like one to barely restrain yourself from killing someone when they annoyed the piss out of you. I was so right! Haha, Waters owes me…"

My eyebrows furrowed as I tried to figure out what the hell she was rambling on about, but Kendra cut herself off. "Alrighty, then, so you and Monique are here, so we're just waiting for one more person."

One of the others guys sitting near the edge of the stage chuckled. "Yeah, it's just like Shayna to be late." He was wearing a red hoodie that said in white letters across the front, "I didn't do it! No one saw me do it! You can't prove anything! I want my lawyer!" Paired with that was a pair of black denim jeans that had holes in the knees.

Not thinking before I said it, I blurted out, "How much would you mind if I stole that sweatshirt from you?"

Hoodie-guy smiled at me, and I couldn't help but smile back at him, slightly hesitantly though. "For a pretty girl like you, anything," he said, and I was about to just turn around and end the conversation- _Because I have gotten a lot better at *not* punching people out as my first response to a problem, thank you very much..._- when the other guy in the room said, "Aww, come on, Ian. You couldn't wait before you creeped out the new kids? They don't know you like we do!"

I turned my head to the other guy, who was sprawled out over 2 more chairs in the front row. He tilted the rim of his trucker cap and flashed us a smile too. "Sorry about him. He doesn't really mean it. Just come up with some really smart way to shoot him down, and you should be good. I'm Tyrell, and the flirting idiot over there is Ian, as I mentioned." Tyrell was wearing a blue striped cardigan over a white button down collared shirt. And then he was wearing super-white sneakers with black jeans.

Nudge, who had been surprisingly quiet for most of the conversation, jumped in there. "I'm Monique, and this is Valerie. And don't worry; Val has enough wit and sarcasm for all of us… and then three quarters of the Earth's population."

Ian stood up, chuckling again. "Trust me, we know. You guys are pretty much the topic of conversation everywhere."

_I really don't like the sound of that._ "What do you mean?" I asked.

Ian abruptly twirled in a large circle, arms spread wide. "Welcome to Wesley! The town where the junior baseball league is the most exciting thing in the town paper. Where you can always figure out what the weather's going to be, and if the person who predicted it is wrong, you can go up to him and yell as opposed to screaming at the TV. The town where I was raised within _literally_ the span of a two mile radius." Ian stopped spinning and smiled again. "You guys are about as big of a topic as Clark Kent being Superman."

Tyrell busted out laughing, as did Kendra, whom I realized that I had pretty much forgotten was standing there. "And there he goes! Our closet nerd," Kendra said, affectionately hugging him to her side.

I took a good look at Tyrell, knowing that I'd seen him somewhere before. And then it hit me. "YOU! YOU'RE SKATER BOY!"

With that, Nudge began to prance around me, softly singing "Sk8r Boi" to herself. I sighed, and didn't even bother to tell her that she needed to stop it before she got strange looks; the others were already staring.

Tyrell smirked at me, and I was somewhat surprised at the facial expression. It was weird seeing it on anyone besides Max, Fang or Iggy. _Whoa, reality check._ "I was wondering when you'd notice. Yeah, I would have come up and greeted you, but then we have the entire clique system here, so that would have made me unwelcome anywhere."

I looked him up and down, and then it really hit me that he wasn't in the skater clothes. _Wow, I'm slow today._ I crossed my arms and curled my upper lip a bit. "Jesus, I hate conformists."

Everyone was apparently startled and looked at me like I had just stripped off my clothes and done a nude cartwheel around the stage. Well, except for Nudge. Nudge was still dancing in place, singing to herself. "What?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I hate the entire clique system thing. It's pointless. You're gonna meet other people later on in life that are outside of your group anyways. It's like preparing yourself for culture shock."

Tyrell looked at me carefully, and then he said, "Holy crap. I know exactly who you remind me of! You're like Max!"

I took a small step back, startled. "What?"

Ian started nodding too, and he pushed up his glasses on his nose as they slid off. "Yeah, I totally get what you're talking about!"

I looked between the two boys, wondering where the conversation had turned all of a sudden. "What the hell?"

Tyrell then smiled at me sheepishly. "Sorry, we're slight freaks like this. Don't mind us."

Ian joined in, walking over to loop his arm over Tyrell's shoulder. "Yeah, we just randomly compare people to other famous people. Happens all the time, so ignore us if we do it in front of you."

I smirked, amused. "So who was I? Max?" _I swear, if he references who I think he's gonna reference, I will actually burst into hysterical laughter..._

Ian nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah. Tyrell and I are serious Fang's Blog addicts, so you sort of remind us of Maximum Ride..."

Nudge stopped dancing around me and I fought to keep a straight face. If I even looked at her, I was going to explode with laughter. Instead, after a few moments of "careful consideration"—honestly, if I even opened my mouth, I was going to cackle like a hen—, I looked at them and said, "I guess I could see that. Thanks." _Note to self: Get Fang to write more on blog about new family members so that I can be compared to myself._

Right after I made that little reminder to myself, a girl in a bright blue coat and striped leggings burst through the door yelling, "I'm here! I'm here! Don't hurt me!"

Tyrell looked extremely happy, and then the girl ran onto the stage and flew into his arms. _Ah. That would explain the puppy eyes._ The girl leapt out of his arms, ripped off her coat and threw it into the first row. I, meanwhile, was trying not to fall over at the amount of colors that this child had packed onto her body. She was in this pink tutu over these rainbow striped leggings wearing a blue shirt with the words, "EYES UP, MAN!" with a girl stick figure holding her hands on her hips. On her head was this white knit hat, and around her neck was a checkered red and black scarf. _Umm, wow…_

Ian came over and looped his arm around my shoulder. "Shayna, nice! You got here with 2 minutes to spare! You beat your record! So, Kendra, can we start?"

Kendra laughed at Ian and said, "Alright. I can see that I'm not the only one who wants to block out those two making kissy faces at each other." Tyrell stuck his tongue out at Kendra, who just waved him off.

She clapped her hands together once. "Alright! So, here's what we're gonna do—"

Shayna, in all of her multi-colored glory, gasped and realized, "WAIT! THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE HERE BESIDES US!"

There was a moment of silence to honor the collective loss of IQ points, and then Nudge broke the silence, making a peace sign, smiling widely and asking, "'Sup?"

Shayna flipped out. "Ohmigosh. Please, you CANNOT tell anyone that we're here, okay? Or that we're dressed like this! Or that you even know our names! Please?"

Tyrell managed to cut her off before she rambled on anymore. _Lovely, Nudge has probably spotted a new best friend._ "Sweetheart, I really don't think that either Valerie or Monique is that cruel. And besides, even though Val hates social grouping, I don't think she'd go that far." As he said that, while Shayna couldn't see because he was behind her, Tyrell shot me a look that said, "Go with it."

Immediately, I played off of what he had given me. "I was thinking more along the lines of sticking you all in a room and doing some kindergarten "Getting to know you" activities. Yelling out people's names to sit with each other at random was plan B… But if you like, then I can make that plan C."

Ian reminded me very much of Iggy. "Wait, so what would plan B then?"

"I'm not classified to give you that information."

Then Shayna glomped both me and Nudge in one go. "OH, THANK YOU SO MUCH!" Over Shayna's shoulder, I mouthed to Ian, "Is she always like this?"

Ian nodded, mouthing back, "She probably didn't take her pills yet. I'll make sure she gets those."

Kendra cut in. "BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM!" _Man, I might be permanently deaf. Damn it, even after the change I can't stop getting my ears blocked? What is this!_ "Ok, so you guys, as punishment that I am forced to give to you, are going to paint the back wall of the stage!" We all stared blankly at her. "Or, we could be painting one of the auditorium walls, you know." Suddenly, the room was filled with cheering, mostly on Nudge, Shayna's, and Ian's part. _Nice cover._

Suddenly Kendra threw a pair of overalls at all of us, splattered with paint. _Where the hell did those come from?... OHMYGOSH KENDRA'S A WIZARD!... Mleh, need squirrel blood… Dying…_ "You're gonna have to wear these if you like your clothes now without paint all over them. The cans of paint, brushes, and pans are over there, and the ladders are backstage. I'll be watching from the front row." _Oh, I knew there was a catch. Damn it. DO I LOOK LIKE A FREELANCE CARPENTER TO YOU!_

Demon-conscience cut in. _Well, in the overalls, you will…_

I face palmed, not even bothering to dignify that idiotic reply with an answer. Sighing, I leapt off the stage and walked into one of the rows. Crouching down, I managed to pull my pants off and put on the overalls without any major problems. _Because if I hadn't put these on, then Alice would have killed me for screwing up the jeans. And maybe Demon would have did that thing where he's silently disappointed in me and just looks at me and makes me feel as if he's boring into my soul if I had messed up his shirt…_

Then Ian fell onstage, and we all just stood there and watched as he displayed his Spongebob Squarepants boxers to all of us, the overalls around his ankles. I was laughing so hard that for a few seconds I thought that I would start to cry. Then I realized that vampires can't cry, so that was pretty much pointless.

After Ian realized who was laughing where, his eyes lit on me and said, "Hey, Sugar Mama! Enjoying the show?"

I laughed a bit harder, and managed to hold back enough to say, "Yup! Spongebob boxers _really _make me want to jump you."

Ian did a small leap in the air and raised his fist: the Pokémon victory pose. _I shouldn't know that. _"Chicks dig the sponge," he said, acting as if he had said some wise words of great importance. _He's definitely the goofy sidekick…Hmm, now to find a na—Beast Boy._ I chuckled and shook my head, making a note to force Hope to watch a Teen Titans marathon with me next time that I stayed over.

And that was how, one hour later, I came to be painting a wall the most horrible shade of red-orange that I had ever seen. It had been relatively quiet, everyone choosing to work on their own section of the wall and "hope for the best", which was the motto that was running through everyone's minds. Nudge and I were on opposite sides of the wall, and so I couldn't even talk to her. No one spoke.

I really, _really_ hate it when it's quiet. It reminds me of empty cages.

Since no one had made a move to talk in the longest time, I decided to take it upon myself to make sure that someone said something. And so, because my default setting for talk is "music", I started singing.

"Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars? I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now. Can we pretend that—"

Nudge—_Oh, I love that girl_— joined me and did that insane little harmony thing that she does with every song that she hears on the radio. "—Airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars? I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now."

I couldn't help myself; I started to dance in place. "I could use a dream or a genie or a wish/ To go back to a place much simpler than this./ 'Cause after all the partying and smashing and crashing/ And all the glitz and the glam and the fashion."

Nudge called out over everyone's head, "If you're going to be our iPod, then Val, you have to sing a song that everyone knows."

I looked around at all the blank faces, and shook my head. "BLASPHEMY! YOU SHOULD ALL KNOW B.O.B.!"

Then I cleared my throat and started to sing, "I wanna be a billionaire/ So freaking bad./ Buy all of the things I never had."

And then everybody joined in with me. "I wanna be on the cover of/ Forbes magazine,/ Smiling next to Oprah and the Queen!"

As everyone else kept singing the song, I looked around, a small smile on my face. _Huh. So this is what it's like to be normal. With normal people. And normal friends. It's… nice._

And then Ian lifted me onto his shoulders and said, "You need to gain weight. You're so freaking light!" Then he twirled me around, still singing about, "I'd pr'ally pull an Angelina and Brad Pitt and adopt a bunch of babies that ain't never had—"

Shayna screamed in the place of the curse word, "NADA!"

Ian, meanwhile, tried to flirt again. "So, Val. Would you be interested in being the Angelina to my Brad Pitt?"

I laughed outright and said, "No, thank you. I would prefer that my last name not be something that sounds like either a fruit seed or a smelly body part."

Ian said, "Gasp! You wound me deeply, girl. It BURNS!"

And that was where the paint fight began. _We didn't really ever finish that wall, now that I think about it. Ian's thoughts of flattening ourselves against the wall to get the paint off didn't work as well as he thought it would…_

"See, Monique? Aren't you happy that I didn't listen to you and wear that outfit? See, TOMBOYS RULE ETERNAL!"

"Shut up, Valerie, and come back here so that I can hug you!"

"GROUP HUG!" And then Shayna glomped us all… again.

That first day of detention was the day that I decided that I liked the town of Wesley….

… Even if it was significantly smaller than Brooklyn.

* * *

**_Have I mentioned that I love Nudge and her forever rambles? She just rocks. Almost as much as Ian does, because he's totally the goofy sidekick who should be getting the girl. Just not Valerie, as she's already taken, even if she doesn't know it. _****_Tyrell is really cool, and I keep looking at his character and saying, "Wow, that's different than the real guy that I know with that name..." Since, you know, I'm pretty much stealing people's personalities and putting bits and pieces of them into my characters. Yes, even the horrible ones._**

**_On another note, I've always wondered why no one has ever written or commented on how the Flock sort of behaves just like the Flock, as written about on the Internet by Fang. I mean, come on! Six siblings, with two who look nothing like the other four, who magically show up together and are super close? WHAT ELSE COMES TO MIND? And Fang's Blog is PRETTY popular..._**

**_OK, so review! Because... umm... you love me? Yeah, I think that's a good enough reason. OH, and because even filler chapters need love? Seriously, there's no real point to this chapter. except to show what Val and Nudge could be like if they were normal. HUZFLAH FOR FILLERS!_**

**_REVIEW! Y VIVA LOS PANTALONES!_**

**_Peace, love, and:-_**

**_Elizabeth, one of my favorite seniors. Not the one that I've hit over the head with beans: OK, I'm outta here like, like a cat outta the bag. Like a train outta the station. Like, like... -two second pause, and then devious smile comes over her face-... like John Ham outta my bedroom.,_**

**_Skittles31_**


	40. Mine! Plus Fun with PyroBoy and BatGirl!

_**A month to the day. Dang, I'm good. Or maybe that's a bad thing...**_

**_Alright, no major updates. I've finally updated- YAY!- and I would like for you to know that this is the last filler. The next chappy is where everything of intense importance starts to happen. Also, this chapter is dedicated to MissA540 because she has read my entire story and was the 300TH REVIEWER! WE HAVE REACHED THE 300 REVIEWS MARK! -confettiphant!- Also, to "girlreadsalot", I hope that you are satisfied with this chapter. You will see why later on._**

**____****ALRIGHT! DISCLAIMER: Check past 39 chapters. I am NOT gonna be the one with a lawsuit over my head.**

**____****AND NOW, ON WITH THE STORY!**

**_

* * *

_**_**-Demon POV-**_

You know what I really hate? When people try to take what's very obviously _mine_.

For example, when the whitecoats tried to stretch my wings so far that I felt they were going to come right out of my body? Yeah, I thought that I'd made it perfectly clear back then when I knocked out about 5 of them and then was sent back to my cage with a lovely new collection of scars from the whips that flashed across my back. Or the other time, when that idiot in Central Park had tried to steal my backpack when I had put it down for a second on a park bench. His black eye should have been enough of a clue.

I mean, I get that this is obviously someplace _other_ than Central Park, Manhattan, but really? I think that the rule carries over from all the other times: Don't touch my stuff.

And that would include my best friend, Random Guy in Graphic Tee with Ninja on the Front. **So back off.**

Val and I were standing in front of the gymnasium with a few of the other people from our class, waiting for the bell to ring so that we could go in before it started to rain. One of the other people was some random guy in a T-shirt with a ninja on his shirt that Val seemed to know somehow. And he _wouldn't stop flirting_ with her. And it was _really_ making me want to kill him.

I ground my teeth in frustration. Even with the amount of death glares that I was throwing him over Val's shoulder, Ninja Boy wouldn't stop smiling at her. I sighed, running my hand down my face. It really annoyed me when stuff like this happened. Val usually doesn't notice any boys attempting to get her attention outside of her family because Val, bless her soul, is oblivious. I mean, I _love_ her, but she's completely oblivious to pretty much everything around her that directly relates to her and her own physical appearance. And that was probably my fault.

Val has always been… _attractive_ in the eyes of random guys that we meet out on the street. And none of them have ever had any problems with displaying that. Val has been smiled at by random perverts more times than I can count, and she always dealt with them accordingly. But then again, she always thought that these guys were Erasers in disguise, popped up in front of them before they could even take a step in her direction, and decked them so hard that their mothers probably felt it. For those guys, I never even had to do anything.

It was the other ones that she _didn't _see that I had to take care of. It was _my _best friend that they were looking at like a piece of meat. There was no way in _hell_ that I was going to stand by without doing some sort of damage.

Which is why, out of the kindness of my heart and the small conscience which I listened to most of the time, I was slightly worried about Ninja Guy. You know, since he was about to go up against a genetically mutated 17 year old who could crack his ribs open with one kick.

The only problem was that the guy wasn't taking the hint. **I'm just wasting my time trying to get him to stop on his own. Hmm, I wonder how hard it is to get 14 other people to say that they didn't witness a fight/ murder…**

Just as I was about to lunge for the kid, Spalding walked out of the gym with a clipboard in hand. He looked us all over and jerked his head in the direction of the very dry gym. Temporarily distracted, I walked behind Alice into the gym…

…And then got extremely upset when I saw absolutely no Valerie in the immediate area.

I started cursing under my breath, and Alice, who was apparently closer to me than I thought, gave me a look that pretty much said, "I will attack your tongue with Dial soap."

I stopped talking, opting to quietly glare at the floor and hope that it would shrivel up and die. Sadly, this did not happen. **Grr...**

* * *

_**-Alice POV-**_

I sighed at the sight of Demon, and then looked over at Valerie, who was currently having a very intense conversation with Ian about his apparent love of dancing. **This sucks. And I might have to run interference again.**

Being Valerie's sister is sort of a tough job. Not even "sort of" anymore, just a _tough job_.

I mean, Val's a really awesome person, and I love her, but she always seems to be dancing on some sort of really thin line. Sometimes, it's obvious that she does it intentionally—for example, her constant feud with Rose—but other times, I don't even think that she realizes.

Like now, for example.

Demon and Valerie are _going_ to get together. (Whether they realize it or not is a completely different matter entirely.) And of course, because Val is seemingly oblivious to any and everything that has to do with her very unhealthy love life, she was unconsciously nudging their relationship slightly off course with her befriending of Ian. Who was about to ask her to join his hip hop class as a token of their friendship. Which would go over like a ton of bricks with Demon when Val told him.

Val doesn't cross the very thin line of "just friends" and "jealous lovers" often, but when she does get involved with another guy, even in the platonic sense, it then makes Demon sulk to himself and simmer angrily in a corner.

Another line crossed often was exemplified in what Val was doing right now: making friends with the humans and getting attached.

Val had come out of her shell when it came to the human kids that she'd met in detention. I think that this probably had to do with several deciding factors:

One: She didn't know these people. They didn't know her. She obviously had a chance for a fresh start.

Two: Val was getting the chance to act like a normal human being for once in her life, without all the pressure of taking care of other people and making life or death decisions.

Three: She was getting less paranoid. Although I have to say that that's probably stretching things a bit.

None of us wanted to burst Val's bubble and stop her from enjoying high school for the first time. We liked seeing that the new baby of the family was having fun and not scowling at everyone who looked at her funny. (Well, everyone except for Rose, that is. But Esme and Carlisle made up for that extremely well with their enthusiasm.) But we also had to try and get her to remember that we were vampires, and we couldn't stay too long in one place and get attached to people, otherwise they might get suspicious.

And then there was the entire "other family" deal.

I understand completely that Val pretty much has two sets of people who look out for her: us and the Martinezes. We were the new people who helped to get Val acclimated to the new changes in her existence. The Martinezes were the ones who would hold her together, knew pretty much everything about her, and linked her to the past life that she was obviously more comfortable with.

The problem was that the Martinezes were human too. **Or at least, I think they are. It's kind of hard to tell when you CAN'T SEE THEIR FUTURES.**

…Sigh. I am frustrated. And so are Edward and Rosalie, but for different reasons.

All of us McCarthy people were sort of on pins and needles about Valerie's coming prepackaged with 13 other parts. They weren't vampires. And they would get suspicious, just like any other human. Edward wanted to figure out a way to get Val to leave them all behind without possibly breaking her heart or causing the Martinezes to try to find us and reveal our secret. Rosalie just wanted to pick at every little thing that Valerie did, whether or not Val could help it.

I would have come up with something to say to sort of ease the tension in the house. The only problem was that the Martinezes, it seemed, were not people that I could predict. I meant that in both the "Valerie" sense of unpredictable and the "werewolf" sense of unpredictable.

The Martinezes were blurry. Not just because Max seemed to make even more split second decisions than Val did, but because apparently, they weren't explaining something as well as they could have. They smelled different, they looked different, and they operated differently than other humans.

And the McCarthys were absolutely stumped on what it was that made them different.

Obviously Val had adjusted well to the vampire transformation, since she hunted like a natural, almost like she had been a vampire for years. She was up there in the grace levels with Edward and me. The only way we could figure that she hadn't been a veggie for a while was the amount of blood that usually got splattered onto her clothes. She moved and talked at a human pace, not arousing any suspicion there. And there was no bloodlust as far as I could tell, except for her obvious love of red fox.

But still, the fact that she was so close to the two different sides of a _very pronounced line_ made it really hard to deal with this particular problem of Valerie's that would eventually come up and bite her in the face if she wasn't careful.

Because somehow, I didn't think that Val's method of "ignoring the line, then getting fed up with and erasing the line, then redrawing the line so that it was dashed, then highlighting it in red, then erasing the line again and tearing a hole through the paper, then trying to redraw the line, then erasing it and crumpling up and throwing away the paper, saying, "You know what? Screw this. I'm drawing a star," was going to work out.

Not in this particular instance, anyway.

* * *

_**-Val POV-**_

I walked into gym class slightly behind Ian, still a little irritated that the stupid "popular people" at this school were so set on making people fit these specific molds. _I swear, I will find a way to turn this school sideways. Because, as Hope would say, "upside down" is so over- rated._

Ian had just convinced me to come with him after school to go shopping for more clothes for his hip hop class, since I was going to join him too, apparently. I told him that I'd get Max to come by as well, since there was not a snowball's chance in hell that I was going to go down by myself when it came to this.

So I had basically just signed my own death warrant with a free Max thrown in for a bargain. _Lovely._

And, as if that weren't bad enough, I had to tell Demon and the others so that none of them would call on a massive search party to find me. The problem was that Demon didn't like the fact that I was talking with any other guy. I swear, sometimes he's more paranoid than me; he thinks that most of the one's that I talk to are somehow involved with Itex. _Somehow, I find it extremely difficult to believe that two- mile- wide, "I- can- yell- at- the- weatherman- in- person- when- he's- wrong" Wesley is where Itex's teen recruits come from._

I wiggled my way in between Demon and Alice, with Mira on Demon's other side and Nudge beside Alice. Deciding that now would not be the best time to tell Demon of my afternoon plans, I kept quiet, feigning paying attention to Spalding, who was telling us that for the next few weeks, we'd be learning to ball-room dance from a local teacher who taught at the dance academy in the middle of Granger's Square.

I stiffened immediately, and Demon looked down at me, blinking twice, silently saying, "Be my partner next week, or I will force myself to have an aneurism right here and now."

I nodded my head softly, silently hoping that our days at the age of 11 of watching "America's Best Dance Crew" and "So You Think You Can Dance?" and attempting to mimic some of the less daring dance moves would help us out here.

After Spalding told us this _lovely_ bit of information, he went on to explain what the game plan was, what we were supposed to tell our parents, and what we should bring to the next class—I was supposed to wear a _dress_. With _heels._ I was going to shoot myself, just so that I could feel some semblance of pain. Then I was going to run off and join the Amazons, if there were any left. Alice's face was almost elated, and I sort of wanted to advance in the opposite direction. _Because I do NOT run away, GOD DAMN IT!_

Due to Spalding's ability to over- explain pretty much anything until it was within an inch of its next life and a few idiots who felt the need to ask pointless questions, we didn't get any free time and were let out the exact same time that the bell rang. Demon walked out with me, and Ian nodded at me slightly, a small, almost- unnoticeable smile on his face. I briefly considered telling Demon about my plans for the mall later, but then decided that it was probably best if I just waited until there was nothing that he could do about it before I told him.

We walked in a comfortable silence to the door of American History, where Emmett was waiting for the trade-off, along with Iggy and Blaze. Demon quickly side-hugged me, giving my waist a little squeeze, then went off to his next class. I stared off after him for a few seconds, Emmett's talking not really registering in my head. Then, deciding that I would never be able to fully understand Demon's random urges, I walked in and sat next to Blaze, who was sitting in front of Iggy and Emmett.

By the time that school let out, I had come up with absolutely no idea of how to break the news to Demon. So instead, I told Iggy. Which, in retrospect, probably wasn't the best idea.

"You're going to a mall with this delinquent that you hardly know? And you don't want me to tell anyone until you're already long gone?" Iggy said it like a question, but I knew that it was more of a statement of the obvious with the "What the hell? Are you kidding me?" meaning behind it.

I nodded. "Demon would find some way to stop me beforehand, and it actually sounds pretty cool to do this. And Igs, if Ian's a delinquent, then you and I are the freaking mafia operating from behind bars."

Iggy walked with me out the doors, but he stayed on the steps with me, leaning against the railing of the stairs. I was careful to stay hidden from where the others could see me near our tree in the parking lot.

After a little while of waiting, Iggy sighed again. "Fine."

I nearly bowled him over with the force of my hug. "Jeez, woman, there was no need to glomp me. A simple 'thanks' would have been nice."

I mock punched Iggy in the arm, and told him, "Go, Pyro-Boy. Before they get suspicious." Iggy nodded, and as he turned around to go over to the others, I maneuvered my way back into the school, waiting for Ian.

2 minutes later, when the crowd had died down a lot, he had run down the hallway, grabbed my hand, and rushed us through the door, heads down, paparazzi style. I couldn't help but laugh.

"This is how you hope that no one will see you?" I asked, chuckling. Ian shot me a look over his shoulder, continuing to run across the parking lot.

He poked out his tongue, and we leapt over the hood of his car James Bond style. Hopping into the car finally after Ian forgot where he had put his keys, he shut the door and backed out of his parking spot like a mad-man. It was only then that I dared to look at my family. Or more specifically, Demon.

To say that he looked pissed would be an understatement. I groaned silently, and met Iggy's gaze. He shrugged, and I bit my lip. I was pulled back to my afternoon plans when Ian said, "Well, how much do you want to bet that Batman never had those problems with the Batmobile?" I laughed.

After a few more minutes of driving and singing along to the radio, Ian pulled over on the side of the road, reaching back into the back seat. I couldn't help it; I had a Max moment. "Boy, I am _not_ having a make- out session with you in your back seat."

Ian settled back into his seat with a package of clothes in his hand. He gave me a fake "come hither" look. "You sure you don't want to rethink that?"

Laughing, I said, "Keep driving, Casanova."

We drove for about a half an hour more, and in the car, I realized that Ian has a secret passion for Alicia Keys, since he sang along to every single song that came on by her during the Women's Hour on the station that we were listening to. His exact words were, "Our love is unbreakable. Because if she asked me, I would be ready. And no one could get in the way of what I feel for her because I never loved someone the way I love her."

My response: "Damn."

We finally got to the mall, which was pretty big for a remote town that Ian claimed was in the middle of nowhere. We hopped out, leaving all our stuff except for our credit cards—which I never left home without—and ventured through the doors.

I was nearly blown backwards by the mere smell of the place. Ian, however, misinterpreted my hesitation to mean that I was intimidated. "Oh, come on, Baby V, it's not going to kill you." He reached back for my hand and pulled me forward. First though, we had to stop at the bathroom for Ian, who had to change into some more comfortable clothes. He walked in with black jeans, a white button down dress shirt with a blue T-shirt under it with a picture of a ninja, and a fedora. He walked out with the T-shirt still on, a baseball cap, and a pair of camouflage gray pants. He planted the fedora on my head and said, "One less thing for me to carry."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Lazy ass."

He looked at me thoughtfully, and then said, "You know what? Keep it. It looks better on you."

Before I even got the chance to refute that point, Ian walked into this store called "Rhythm and Shoes". I followed him, because apparently, we'd made the first stop.

One of the employees came over to us. "Hi! Can I help you?" _These store employees will never fail to scare the crap out of me with their constant perkiness. I mean really. If I were to walk in here at 3 in the morning, would you still be all smiley-faced?_

Ian took over, and I casually looked around the store. It was painted a really bright shade of green on two walls, light purple on the back wall opposite the front of the store, and the last wall was glass so that people could see into the store. The store was shaped like a rectangle, and had all types of dance shoes at the back of the store in front of the changing rooms. Most of the store was taken up by the leotards, tutus, dance pants, and other assorted clothing that stood in front o you as soon as you walked through the door.

And Ian looked right at home in the midst of it all. That was when I knew that I was in for a lot more trouble than I had thought. _Oh crap._

After lots and lots of trying on clothes and nearly killing Ian three times, we walked out of the store with loads of new dancer's clothes. I had been forced to wear a skin- tight, black tank top with a very loose purple sweatshirt over it that ended at my ribcage paired with a pair of darker grey camouflaged capris. Ian allowed me to keep my knee high black Converse for the time being, and I still had the fedora on from before. There were also the other random leggings, baggy pants, snug- fitted shorts, sleeveless hoodies, and multi-colored tank tops that we had picked up—well, Ian picked them up; I attempted to and failed in getting him to drop them before we got to the register. So I ended up spending over 200 dollars on clothing that day before we finally got to the dance studio.

Where I nearly had another heart attack. "VAL! YOU CAME!"

Shayna attacked me before I even got the chance to step look around. "Jeezums, woman. Are you out of your mind? Must you attack the people that you care about?"

A tall, pale woman came over to me, dressed casually in shorts that came down to her knees that looked to be made out of some sort of stretchy material, a short sleeved yellow tee- shirt, and a black hoodie that cut off at her navel. I stiffened as I got to her face; she had _red hair._ _How many things can I possibly think of in the next few minutes that could capture my past problems with red-heads, and how badly I think that this is going to go?_

She smiled at Ian and I. _Well that's a change…_ "Hi. It's nice to meet you. My name's Cassidy, and I teach Ian. I heard that he was bringing in a new recruit. What's your name?"

I blinked twice, shocked at this new development. "Valerie." I looked around behind her at the room, which was plain enough. One entire wall was a mirror, the floor was wooden, and both of the side walls were painted white. The back wall, though, the one that was opposite the mirror, was what I really liked though about the dance studio. It was covered in graffiti of a whole bunch of different people's names, each a different color and written in a different way.

I was forced back into the conversation by Cassidy, who still had that kind smile on her face. _I wonder how long it'll take for that smile to fade._ "Ok, so Valerie, you can join in our class today and see how you like it, then you can keep coming back if you like it. This hip hop class meets every Tuesday and Thursday, and goes from 6 to 8." Cassidy then turned around and walked back to the front of the class, doing a few stretches once she got there.

Shayna was going three miles a minute. "Oh, Val, you're gonna have so much fun in this class. And I can bet that you're gonna look so cool doing it. Because I can tell that sort of stuff, like who looks good doing what dance. It's like I'm psychic! Except that I'm not. But it would be so cool if I were! Do you think it would be like in that TV show _That's So Raven_ that used to run on Disney Channel years ago, and I'd stop in the middle of a hallway and be all like, "Gasp! Headshot!"? Jeez, I hope not. Oh, Dale! Hi sweetie! Come over here and meet the new girl!"

Shayna abruptly cut off from her killing my ears with kryptonite to wave to an average sized girl with blonde hair who was standing by the door, her bag over her shoulder._** (A.N. If you can guess what I meant by that statement, you will get a cyber cookie.)**_ She was wearing a pair of purple shorts with knee high striped socks and white sneakers. On the top was a plain white T-shirt with a black and blue, checkered button down tied at the top of her ribcage. On her head was a simple black bandana, and her blonde hair was tied into a really sloppy ponytail. She looked at all three of us and then waved the hand that wasn't holding onto her bag. "Umm, hi? I'm Dale."

I put up the peace sign in return. "Valerie. Ian brought me."

Ian nodded, throwing his arm around my shoulders. "Yes, meet my love- slave. I thought that she should get some air today."

_Where the flip does he come up with this stuff? _"Master usually takes me out once a week so that I don't suffocate from the air in the basement if I'm good."

Without missing a beat, Dale joined in. "But Ian, I thought that what we had was special and that you needed no other person to fill the hole in your heart?"

Ian put his other arm around Dale's shoulders. "Don't worry, my love. You are still my wonder drug. There will be no need for Dr. Phil. She is only temporary."

I gasped, putting my hand over my heart. "Wait! Does that mean that I am being evicted from your basement?"

I never got my answer, since Cassidy started the class. There were about 15 people in the class, including me, and I later found out that Tyrell was also there.

By the end of the 2 hours, I was happy, jittery, and fidgeting almost to the point of full-blown dancing again. I contained myself enough to walk calmly over to Cassidy and say, "I would love to come back." The music to "So Fine" was still replaying itself in my head. Immediately after she smiled at me and told me that the cost was 48 bucks a week (12 bucks an hour). I immediately agreed, and shook her hand again, practically bouncing onto the sidewalk, still on my post- hip- hop class buzz. Ian, Shayna, Tyrell, and Dale all crowded around me, wanting to know how it was. I smiled, telling them that I would be coming back. Shayna did an immediate pirouette as we crossed the street to the parking lot, and I had to pull her back so that she wouldn't get run over by a blue pick- up truck that had come rumbling around the corner as she turned. Ian looked at me with a smug grin, and I put my hands on my hips. "What?"

His blue eyes twinkled, and he said, "You just went straight to an intermediate hip-hop class with absolutely no problem."

I blinked. "You mean to tell me that you just forced me to take a hip- hop class that's for people who've been taking it for more than, oh, _never_?"

Ian kept smirking, and I have never wanted to smack him as badly as I did then. I then proceeded to jump onto his back and pretend to throttle him. We eventually got to the car and drove Shayna and Tyrell home, since Dale lived pretty much around the corner. The drive back was pretty quiet, since Tyrell fell asleep and Shayna didn't want to wake him. We dropped those two off first and then Ian turned to me. "So, where to now, Mrs.?"

I smiled at him, putting my feet up in front of me onto the dashboard. "Home, Jeeves!"

Then realizing that Ian had no idea where the heck "home" was , I quickly gave him directions, simultaneously smacking myself mentally for that momentary brain fart. After a few more minutes of idle chatter, we pulled into the driveway of the house.

Then I realized that all of the lights were on. And it was 8:45 at night. I groaned silently, and resisted the urge to slide down into the passenger seat.

Ian shut off the car engine, and I saw a curtain by what was the living room move slightly. We both got out of the car and pulled all of my bags out of the trunk. Ian took some of them from my hands, and I smiled at him. "Thanks, Ian." _Jesus, they probably heard that._

Ian threw me a smile. "No problem, milady. I am a proper gentleman who always helps out damsels in distress."

I raised an eyebrow. "Do I look distressed to you?"

Ian noted his mistake. As he stuttered over an answer, he tripped over a stone on the walkway. I couldn't help it; I started laughing.

That was when Alice opened the door. She smiled brightly. "Well, look who finally came home!"

I smiled at Alice, mentally telling her to get the hell back inside the house. Ian suddenly got super awkward and said, "Umm, hi."

I dropped the bags that I had in my hands quickly just inside the house and grabbed the other ones from Ian's hands. He looked down at me in surprise, and I flashed him a quick smile. "Thanks for this, Ian. I really appreciate it."

Ian sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Eh, no problem. So, I guess I'll see you in school tomorrow."

I leaned against the doorframe. "Yeah. Sure. Bye."

Ian smiled at me one more time before getting into his car and driving away. I turned to look at Alice, who just kept smiling without a single word being said. I picked up my bags with as much dignity as I could muster at the moment, turned to go up the stairs, and said, "This does not give you the green light, Tink. Keep that in mind."

I could picture Alice's face as she yelled, "That's complete BS, and you know it!"

_Yeah, I know that too. I'm trying hard to believe it though, so STOP TRYING TO TEAR DOWN THE WALL!_

* * *

_**Have I mentioned that I absolutely love Alice? Seriously, she maybe be my favorite vampire from the canon. It makes me happy to write her. Now, my little minions, REVIEW! And yes, I totally do want to go and see "Despicable Me". DON'T JUDGE ME!**_

_**Peace, love, and "YOU IN THE GREEN! NO THE GIRL, YOU IDIOT, NOT YOU! STOP DANCING ON THE TABLE!",**_

**_Skittles31_**


	41. Dance Dance, James Blunt, and Verdict

_**Ok, so this is one of my better updates. Probably because I went to work on it immediately after I posted the last chapter, and sat at the computer for about 10 hours yesterday. And it's a lovely thing when everyone else is too hot to even bother you about it. SO, this is chapter 41, which is my favorite chapter thus far. You will see later on why. Or at least about half way through, anyway.**_

**_DISCLAIMER!: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!... You're kidding, right?_**

**_And now, ON WITH THE STORY!

* * *

_**_**-Iggy POV-**_

Demon was now constantly in a foul mood. Demon was upset that Val was hanging out with another guy. I briefly considered asking him if he was upset that another guy was "peeing all over his territory", but then decided that I couldn't be bothered trying to hobble to wherever Exie was so that she could heal my wounds.

It had been about 3 and a half weeks since Val and Ian had had their "date" as Demon kept on snidely referring to it as. (I preferred the term "meeting of a teenage boy and teenage girl where no one else has been formally invited". Demon begged to differ.) The rest of us were pretty cool with the entire Val and Ian relationship, whatever it was that was going on over there. I mean, Fang and the rest of us guys stayed out of the way, and we had pretty much trained Gazzy, even with his cluelessness, to recognize that he shouldn't really say anything. Max was okay with it too, opting for the entire "They're not asking me direct questions, so I don't have to answer anything" approach. (It's something that Max specializes in.) And Hope was too preoccupied with Jinx to really say or do anything on the Valerie front. And vice versa.

The other girls, on the other hand, were a different story. Nudge had all but ripped her hair out, and she had collapsed in my arms crying one time—we never spoke of that ever again. She was constantly death glaring at Val and muttering under her breath in low tones that even I couldn't hear, although I could have sworn that she had taken to swearing in Spanish, because I know for a fact that some of the things that she said couldn't have been English. I seriously feared for her health, but avoided the subject of Ian as much as possible. Skye, who has a habit of twirling the hair that hangs into her face whenever she's nervous, had all but permanently curled the hair that framed her face. Mira would appear to be fine, but in the middle of a perfectly normal conversation she'd randomly pull her hair and groan out things like, "She's an idiot. _Why_ is she such an _idiot_?" And Angel, who is probably a lot older than we all really say she is, just took to shaking her head and saying things like, "Such a shame."

Val, of course, was happily oblivious to the entire grieving party. She seemed happy though, and she would randomly start doing mini- dance moves as she walked or sat in her seat or just stood still. Val _couldn't stop moving_.

Like, for example, right now.

We were nearing the end of American History, and I was sitting next to Val this time. And I desperately wanted to _duct tape her to the chair._ She was doing a little hip twirl and tapping her foot to some imaginary beat as we sat there, taking notes on the Industrial Revolution. I was going to leap sideways and strangle her with the grace of a boa constrictor if she didn't stop. She had been going on like this since the beginning of the class. Emmett was behind me and I could practically hear his teeth grinding. And Blaze had gotten up about 10 minutes ago and gotten a tissue, which he then shoved into both of his ears. I knew for a fact though that it didn't help.

We all managed to hang on for a few more minutes, which was just as much time as it took for the bell to finally ring. I immediately jumped up from my chair, screaming "Hallelujah!" Everyone turned to look at me, but I really didn't care. Emmett raised a hand for a high-5, and I went in for the other half, pulling away at the last second with my hand pulsing, chanting "Jellyfish, Jellyfish, Jellyfish."

Blaze literally picked up Val and threw her over the shoulder, and we walked out of the classroom, people still stopping to stare. Val, whose hair was streaming into her face, parted it to scream down the hallway, "TAKE A PICTURE! IT'LL LAST LONGER!"

Blaze put Val down, and she smoothed out her jeans. Yes, you heard me right. Val actually cared about what she was wearing.

Ever since she and Ian had started hanging out after school together, she had stopped wearing the usual t-shirts and jeans. Today, it was one of her more "out there" ones, so "out there" that Nudge had to explain to me exactly what it was that she was wearing:

There was a long sleeved black shirt with a purple vest that turned into a corset thingy right on top of her ribcage and stopped at her belly button. Then there was a pair of black capris that came to her knees, made out of some sort of stretchy material with some sparkles. Then she wore white knee high socks so high that they met the end of the shorts, and then she wore calf high black Converse that she had borrowed from Alice. Suffice it to say that when Demon had seen her this morning, he had almost gone into a coma. And I had laughed, because I had never known that Demon could blush before today. It was a lovely thing to watch.

And I had a front row seat to watching Demon subconsciously trail Valerie with his goo- goo eyes. Somehow, I had a feeling that this was going to be one of those things that I could hold over Demon's head for a _really _long time. **I love having a brother. Even a brother who is angry at the moment that he wasn't able to find out what Val's shirt size was before another guy.**

* * *

_**-Val POV-**_

"What?" I asked Emmett blankly, swearing up and down in my head that I hadn't just heard Emmett say that to me. _Emmett is freaking *Emmett*; there is no *possible* way that he put the pieces together. Not when Alice andwa—_

"That's the Flock. As in "Fang's Blog" the Flock." Emmett was as sure about the fact that Max and company were the _real _Max and company as I was that Alice had drunk too much coffee when she was still human.

I blinked twice up at him, and wondered how the hell _**Emmett **_of all people had managed to figure it out. "How…?"

I mean, don't get me wrong. I love Em. He's amazing and makes up for Rosalie's completely bitchy attitude. But the thing was that Emmett was _not _Edward or Alice or Jasper. They were the ones who could figure out something like that. _Not__** Emmett.**_

Emmett put his arm over my shoulder, acting completely calm while I had a mental spazzout beside him. "Well, I read Fang's Blog—" _That I can totally believe. Without a doubt. If anyone in that house was following Fang, it would be Emmett._ "—and I really like listening to the updates on the Flock. So he said that he had met some other successful experiments—7, to be exact—and that they had pretty much joined forces. He also said that as far as he knows, they are the only successful experiments besides the Erasers left. I remembered what you had said about being one of several experiments who made it. I knew that Gina and all of the others who had come to our house before were experiments. The thing that gave it away was when Fang said that his brother Demon was looking for someone that he lost, and then about 2 days after the Martinezes found you here, Fang updated saying that everyone was one big happy family again." Emmett paused for a few seconds, then shrugged. "Plus, there's the fact that I know absolutely no other people who could possibly be traveling together, look nothing like each other, and be closer than cheese on macaroni."

I tried to come up with something to get him off of the topic. "There's the Von Trappe family."

Emmett shook his head. "They're a real family. As in biologically similar. And they're not as big. And by now they're all super old."

_Damn him._ "Tarzan and Jane. And then they had kids. And Jane's relatives got stranded with them." I knew for a fact that if Emmett actually bought that, I could possibly be a better mind controller than Angel. That, or Emmett had the IQ of a cardboard box. A cardboard box with instructions on how to set it up on the side.

Emmett looked as though he seriously doubted my intelligence at the moment. "Valerie, come on."

Weakly, I tried one last time. "Percy Jackson and his merry band of demi-god friends."

Emmett opened his mouth to say something, and he paused. I then stood shocked myself when I realized that saying that Percy Jackson was actually Demon could have possibly worked, if Percy had just tanned for a significant amount of time. _Yes! I am back on track!_

With Emmett standing there thinking through the last choice, I did a short little victory dance. Emmett snapped his attention back to me as I started to do the Harlem Shake. And then he smirked, and I knew that I was done for. "You're lying."

Realizing that there was nothing that I could do to stop Emmett, I scowled at him and socked him in the arm. Glaring up at him, I stomped over to our tree, finally following after Iggy and Blaze who had left us a few minutes ago.

Emmett seemed to realize that he was right and caught up with me, putting an arm around my shoulder. "So," he started casually, "Which one's Kami's favorite aunt?"

I grabbed Emmett's arm, pulled it from around my shoulders and pushed back his index finger as far as it could go without breaking. "Don't say another word. They don't know that you know, and you can't tell anyone. If you do, I swear to Jesus I will do unspeakable things to you with a wood chipper and a bunch of pigs."

Emmett looked horrified and in pain, and as he nodded, I let go of his hand and turned around to walk the rest of the way to the tree. And then Alice bounded up to me, and I knew that I was done for.

"What's this mysterious Flock thing?" she asked me under her breath so that no one else could hear. Just as I was about to turn around and light Emmett's butt on fire for even suggesting the idea, Ian came out, decked in his dance clothes, and ran over to grab my hand. "BABY V!"

Emmett backed away from me and I smiled up at Ian. He grabbed my hand and I twirled under it, wondering why he was here. _**(A.N. There, Spencer. I hope you're happy, wherever you are. A girl knew what to do when her hand was grabbed and the boy lifted his arm. Although she was fictional.)**_

"What's wrong? Did your car break down?" I asked immediately after I came full circle and before Ian attempted to make an entire dance remix out of the one move.

Ian shook his head, and his smile grew even bigger. "Bounce just had this super awesome idea for something, but we need your approval otherwise it won't end up working out! So, I need to ask you something, and you can't deck me for it. My arm can't deal with that type of pain."

I shot him down before he suggested anything that I wanted no part in. "If you need anything illegal, I'm not 18 yet, so it won't work. And if it involves any type of stripping or flirting, you had better find someone else."

Ian pouted at me. "That wasn't what I was going to ask, but even so: Boo! You're no fun." I rolled my eyes and told him to get to the point. He brightened right up again. "Ok, so they just announced that there was going to be a Halloween Dance this year, so I was wondering if you would go with me."

**The world must have righted itself on its axis from **_that_** bombshell...** -Skye  
**The sky changed color. I'm sure of it…** -Nudge  
**I swear, Fang's clothes just changed colors from black to electric purple…** –Mira  
**I'm having a nightmare. That's the only explanation…** -Angel  
**And the plot thickens…** -Alice

I turned to my family, wondering why all of a sudden everyone was so quiet. Everyone's eyes were trained on me. Nudge had grabbed Mira's forearm and both of them looked like all the color had been drained from their faces. Both were staring wide- eyed in my direction. Skye was chewing her bottom lip so hard that I worried that she would gnaw it right off. Angel was pulling at her two pigtails, her eyes flashing between Ian and me. Alice had a small smirk on her face, as if she was waiting for something to happen.

And everyone else's faces—Fang, Max, Iggy, Gazzy, Jinx, Bella, Hope, Jasper, Shawn, Edward, Rosalie, and Emmett—were pretty much all reading, "What just happened here?"

Turning back to Ian, I shrugged. "Sure. Fine. Whatever. Now, seriously, is anything wrong with the car? Because if anything, you're going to end up piggy-backing me all the way there."

Ian sighed in relief. "No, nothing's wrong with the car. Now we have to go tell Bou—"

Said girl suddenly glomped me, and the force at which she hit me made me take two steps backwards. It was actually rather frightening. "YES! YOU'RE GOING!"

I looked down at Shayna, wondering how she knew. "You weren't even—"

Shayna let go of me, flailing her arms in that way that she does when you know she's excited about something. "I can read lips pretty well, and I figured that if you weren't saying, "Yam. Curse. Not Clever," then you were probably saying that you were agreeing. So now that you're in on it—"

Ian cut in. "—AND YOU CAN'T BACK OUT NOW! BWAHAHAHA! –cough- Hairball, sorry—"

Shayna kept going as if Ian had never said anything. "—we are being forced to kidnap you and then you will be a part of our plan for WORLD DOMINATION! BWAHAHA!"

I blinked twice at Shayna, somehow having already gotten used to this. "Alrighty then. Crazy woman, Cat boy, lead—"

Demon, who I hadn't noticed standing behind Fang in the shade of the tree, suddenly pushed through the crowd of various shocked family members—whose faces were even more comically shocked and cartoon- like—and grabbed one of my hands. "Val, could I please see you for a moment?"

I nodded, wondering why he looked as if something had crawled up his butt and had a couple of babies. He led me away from everyone else to over by the steps of the school. Looking back once, Demon went to the far side of the stairs and sat down on the bench that was there, taking me with him.

"So, what's wrong? Are the Erasers back? Did something happen to the house? Did someone see you guys?" I quickly shot off questions at him, worrying that something horrible had happened and that I was going to have to—

_Wait a chocolate covered- fudging minute. What the hell am I supposed to do then, now that I've found them and everything's all hunky dory? I mean, if something goes wrong, I can't just bite them all on the neck and say, "There, a new life. Enjoy." I can't take them away from here. There would be too much paper work, and people would be super suspicious and I couldn't just randomly say to Carlisle, "Oh, hey, look. I need you to help me out here with these guys. So could you train them all in the art of vampirism?" Oh gosh, why wasn't I blessed with super psychic abilities like Alice was so that I could have seen this coming and ADVANCED IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION? WHAT THE FUDGE AM I SUPPOSED TO DO—_

I was interrupted in the middle of my mental rant by Demon, who was waving the hand that wasn't still holding mine in front of my face. "Val, are you there? Is everything all right?"

I briefly shook my head, getting out of the mental slump that I had thought myself into. After making sure that I wasn't about to blurt out anything of consequence, I nodded in his direction, signaling him to initiate the conversation.

Demon looked away, and the face that he made as he glanced over the parking lot made me think that the babies of whatever had crawled up his butt and taken up residence had just watched their parent die. _In other news, I'm pretty sure that Emmett slipped some squirrel into my "Gatorade" this morning…_

Demon was never this quiet, and I have to admit that I was getting worried. "D? Is everything ok?" Now that I really looked, he looked a little bit more squeamish and a little paler than he should have normally.

Without thinking about it, as Demon was opening his mouth, I focused on getting some of the color back into his face. I put my hand on his forehead, lessening the amount of heat that I had previously been tunneling throughout my body in an effort to make myself seem more human to regular humans, and avian- human to the Flocks. His temperature was much higher than it should have been, even as a bird boy. Demon looked away from the parking lot to look at me. "Haze…?"

"Shh…" I whispered, not knowing why I wanted to keep the silence. It was sort of comforting, though, and Demon closed his eyes and didn't say anything. I held my hand to his head for a while, and after a long enough time, Demon's temperature returned to around normal. I let out a sigh of relief, taking my hand away. "You're okay now…" I said, still whispering.

Demon's eyes fluttered open, and I watched his pupils dilate, felt him squeeze my hand. "Thanks, Haze."

I nodded to him, and to my absolute horror, I felt venom rushing to my cheeks. _Is that even freaking possible? _"No problem…"

Demon nodded absently, and I felt surprisingly blank minded as he didn't say anything. But his eyes darkened, and I knew that whatever he had pulled me over to this bench for was about to come up again in conversation.

"Val, I don't…" Demon started, then trailed off and sighed. "This Ian guy, I mean, you don't really know him that well. There could be an entire side of him, background that he has, that you don't know about. Are you sure you should be really…?" He sounded very hopeless, and I blinked a few times, then refocused on Demon. I could tell from the way that he was sitting that this was about much more than just "Ian" in general. Demon was being much too… _stiff._

"D, what's really wrong?" I asked softly, not really sure what to do. _I mean, it's Demon and everything, yeah, but… it's just too awkward to be __**him**__._ Demon avoided my eyes completely, looking back out over the parking lot. We sat in an awkward silence, and I wondered how the heck we had gotten here. I mean, I know Demon _so _well, as well as the back of my hand. We just don't _have_ awkward silences. So I adopted another duty to maintain Demon and my perfectly open relationship: breaking awkward silences.

I let go of Demon's hand that was holding mine, and scooted over closer to him on the bench. I forced him to lean back against the side railing of the steps, then leaned against Demon's body myself, using the arm closest to me as a makeshift shawl and wrapping it around my shoulders.

Sighing to myself for no apparent reason, I said, "Awkward turtle makes awkward babies."

Demon started, and then started to chuckle to himself. "You're insane."

I shrugged. "Mleh. Not insane. Just not what you're used to."

Demon looked down at me, a small, strange smile on his face. "Yeah. Not what I'm used to at all."

I tore my gaze away from his, trying to get back to the subject at hand. "So, what did you want to talk about?" _Because I am willing to believe that the third time's the charm…_

Demon managed to string together an entire sentence this time. "…You're really going to that dance with him?"

I shrugged, not getting what this was all about. "Yeah. I mean, he asked and all."

Demon kept going, keeping that rather deflated look about him. "So, this guy's your new best friend now, huh?"

I had just gotten comfortable, snuggling into Demon's side because he is like one of those heated blankets that you can wrap around you and be warm all the time. Unfortunately, when Demon said that, I pretty much had the spit-take face on. "What?"

Demon looked surprised. "I thought that…"

I couldn't help myself; I smacked him upside the head. _So much for not hitting people as my first form of response… Oh well. I'm sure that someone missed angry, violent Valerie._ "You are an idiot, I hope you know that."

Demon looked really sheepish. "Well, you were hanging out around Ian a lot, and spending time with him, and every time that I looked at the two of you together, you were always so happy and glowy—"

I turned my head to glare up at him. "You dunce head! Since when did that mean that I had a new best friend?"

Demon looked slightly scared of me now. "But you said that you'd go to the dance with him! How was I supposed to know that—"

I cut him off. "I've also said that I was going to go on a homicidal rampage. Did I do that?"

"Well—"

My glare got more intense. "Flyboys and Erasers don't count."

I could see that by now, Demon really wanted to sink into the floor. "Then, no…"

I didn't let him off easily at all. "Right. So shut up. I'm going to a dance with a perfectly nice boy who seems to think that I am a decent person. I never once said that I was going to drop you like a hot tamale since I'd gotten a new friend. And even if I did say to Ian that he is my best friend, I have said thousands of things that I don't mean, like the "homicidal rampage" thing. Now stop acting like a whiney brat and suck it up."

I went back to leaning against Demon, and he sat there as if I were still scolding him. Then, after I had stopped moving, he muttered, "…You're mean, you know that?"

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up, love me, and give me a piggy back ride."

Demon was silent for a few seconds, then got up. He took a deep breath, and then smiled down at me. "Will you save a dance for me?"

I nearly fell off the bench. _And that would not have been graceful in the slightest._ "Excuse me?"

He smiled boyishly and pulled me up by the hand. _Don't you dare take advantage of me in my stupefied state!_ "Now," he started, and I looked at him with what I am positive was a beautiful fish impression, "since we'll be dancing together, I suggest that we start practicing together now." _And I have a massive brain crash right about now._

Plowing right along as though he hadn't just heard my astonished and rather graceless squeak, Demon continued with his out-of-body moment. "Now put your arms around my neck." His eyes were filled with some type of mischief, and I—because my brain was still not functioning fully or able to keep up with this new Demon with the completely insane ideas—followed his orders, wondering absently where the hell he was going with this.

Demon's eyes darkened, and I couldn't even read them all that easily anymore. _What are you thinking, D?_ Abruptly, he pulled me close and I was forced to stand flush against him and on top of his toes. "And then I do this…" he trailed off, and then, with him supporting my weight fully, we started to sway slightly in place. After a few seconds of this, we started to spin around, gently at first, then he started to go faster and faster.

"DAMIEN!" I am sorry to say that I squealed his name like a maniac, without much restraint on my part and with Demon laughing evilly in my ear. "I am going to kill you!"

Finally, we slowed down, and Demon's eyes had gotten super dark now, bordering on black. I stopped dead, and it felt like a bucket of ice cold water had been dumped over me. "You will be dancing with me at that party, ok? Because you are…"

"What? What am I?" I asked, raising my chin a little higher. Demon's arms tightened around my waist, and I suddenly realized that my hands had snaked up his neck to his neckline.

Demon opened his mouth to answer, and then—

"OI! Val! We've got to go!" Shayna yelled from around the corner, and my eyelids—_when did they get half closed?_—flew open all the way. Demon's eyes got lighter very quickly, and I stood there staring at him in shock. As if he had just realized what position we were in—_how the hell do *you* just realize what position that we're in? You were the one who dragged me into this position in the first place!_—Demon let go of my waist at the same time that I let go of his neck. All the cold air rushed to my sides and lower back, where I had gotten very used to Demon's hands being.

"Come on. I should go," I said, stepping off of Demon's feet and staring straight ahead at Demon's chest. I turned around without a response and started to walk away, feeling the venom start to rush to my face once again. _Note to self: when I get home, ask Carlisle about "vampire's blush"._ After I took two steps, Demon's hand flew out and wrapped around my wrist. I kept avoiding his eyes, instead opting to stare at his hand. I tilted my head to the side, wondering why in the name of Converse I had never noticed that Demon's hands were so… big. And strong looking. And calloused.

"Val?" Demon asked, and I was startled into looking at him again. "He's really not…"

I shook my head. "No," I whispered. "It's always been you. It'll always be you."

Demon bit his lip, and the other hand came up very shakily and extremely slowly. I looked between Demon's face and his hand quickly, my face probably saying very clearly, "What are you doing?"

Demon's eyebrows were furrowed, his mouth set into a determined line, and his face clearly said, "Shh. Let me just try this…"

His hand, after stopping for a few seconds in the air between both of our faces, kept coming closer, and then finally he just reached out and touched my cheek. First it was one finger, then two, then three, and then his entire palm just rested there, covering all the way from my ear to my cheek. I stood there and just stared at Demon, who looked back calmly at me. And I just couldn't get over how _big _he was compared to me. _Why is he suddenly so freaking *huge*?_

"Beautiful…"he whispered. Demon's eyes were filled with some sort of strange understanding that _I _sure has hell couldn't understand…

And then just as quickly as his sudden urge came over him, Demon snatched his hands back and walked past me. "Come on. You've got plans."

I turned slowly, looking at Demon's back. _What the hell just happened?_ I shook my head, deciding that now was _not _the time to start analyzing Demon's recent character change. I ran around the corner after Demon, jumping at the last minute onto his back and shielding his eyes. "SNEAK ATTACK!"

Demon stopped and I felt him roll his eyes. He started walking again in a completely straight line, while I sat giggling on his back.

When I looked back at the others, they were all standing there talking, as if half of them hadn't heard what had just happened. The only comment that I really cared to hear was Edward's to Alice. "You've got to admit, he's smooth. He gets it from me though, obviously, since those were obviously some of _my_ moves."

When Demon finally pulled up in front of the family, I jumped off of his back and walked over to Ian. "Come on. Let's go, before I change my mind about this entire thing."

Ian shouted "YES!" at the sky, and Shayna started to pull me away to Ian's car. "We have so much to do!" Shayna started to rattle off all the stuff that we would need to get done before the dance, and I couldn't even really pay attention to her. I was much too busy smiling to myself.

_He called me beautiful…_

* * *

_**-Demon POV-**_

I had no idea what the hell I had just done. There was no reasoning, and I didn't even feel as though I had been in control of my own body. **Angel, I swear that if you did what I think you just did, I will rip you apart, sew you back together, and then leave you alone in the forest to be eaten by wild bears.**

Angel, who had been up ahead of me talking frantically to Nudge, turned around with a confused look on her face. "I didn't do anything," she mouthed to me, and I sheepishly rubbed the back of my neck feeling awkward. "Sorry…"

None of what I had said was meant to come out of the confines of my head. **I mean, yeah, sure I meant it, but you don't just go around telling your best friend that you think that she's…**

I cut off that mental train of thought, and suddenly started to cough into my hand like a maniac. And I felt super- crappy. **Am I sick? Do bird kids even *get* sick?**

I felt a little hotter than usual, and automatically wished that Val was there to take care of me like she had earlier, being my makeshift ice pack. Deciding not to think too much of it, I adjusted my backpack's strap on my shoulder and kept walking. It was probably nothing anyways.

* * *

_**-Katherine POV-**_

I felt horrible. Knowing that I had done such a terrible thing to this Valerie's boyfriend, or whatever he was to her, made me queasy. I had been watching the pair of friends interact for weeks, and I knew that their relationship was one of the strongest out of their group. Even though I was only a few decades older than Valerie and didn't know her personally, I still knew her situation, and I wanted to see it run its course. But Master Aro had said that he wanted to know the strengths, weaknesses, and secrets of this new vampire, so I had to do it. I had hoped that this reasoning would make me feel better about my actions, but so far, it wasn't doing me much good.

* * *

**_Ok, so there are three things that you should take away from this chapter:_**

**_1: They're getting it.  
2: *They're*_****_ trying to get *her*.  
3: **They're** getting **it**. (Different people getting different thing, though, this time. Note astericks.)_**

**_And yes, I am getting super vague on you. I don't want to directly give anything away. That would suck. A lot. SO REVIEW! And if you think that you get something, just say something in the review. I will reply to you with either a smile face or a frowney face, depending on if you're on the right track or not. (I personally think that number 2's the easiest to figure out. But take a crack at the others if you want to.)_**

**_This chapter made me feel super masochistic as well as sadistic. I feel proud of myself. :) The title of this chapter has to do with three specific moments in the chapter. Kudos to younif you can find them all. Oh, and the chapter titles reflect how serious the chappy is, if you wanted to know._**

**_OK, REVIEW! I love you guys. -throws cyber cookies into the crowd for no real reason-_**

**_Peace, love, and:-  
Me: OH! I wanna watch Finding Nemo! PUT IN FINDING NEMO!  
Mia: I swear, if you yell that again they're gonna have to find you._**

**_Skittles31 _**


	42. Conga to Flat Line

_**Ok, not much to say. Out of camp (FREEDOM!) and no longer having much to do. OH HAPPY DAYS! So, we'll get right to it. Let's just say that the title of the chapter gives it away.**_

**_Disclaimer: No._**

**_ON WITH THE STORY!

* * *

_**_**-Valerie POV—**_

Shayna skipped in front of me down the aisle, looking almost carelessly at the different bottles on the shelves, while I walked calmly behind her, now not feeling as awesome and carefree and determined about this as she was.

She stopped abruptly, reaching her hand out to grab a bottle. "What about this one for me?" she asked, and I nearly blanched as she pulled a bottle of red hair dye from the shelf.

I looked from the bottle's suggested color to Shayna, who looked strangely innocent in her button down light pink shirt, jeans, and head band. (She had run out of school, dragging me by the arm to her car, and hadn't gotten a chance to change out of her prep clothes. As well as giving her an innocent look, she also looked very out of place. She needed to be wearing something crazy and bright. It was giving me a headache that she wasn't.) Shayna was slightly tanned – but only because of her parents; there is not enough sun here to tan—and had dark brown hair that curled super- tightly. I stared for a few seconds, then shook my head. "Unless you plan on growing some freckles, girl, that ain't gon' happen."

Shayna giggled, said, "You talk New York style. It's funny,", then continued to walk down the aisle, concentrating again.

Shayna's attention span was larger than usual, ever since she had pitched the idea of us sort of crashing the dance. Since Ian and Tyrell had already said "yes" to the idea, and I was practically tied by a blood oath—_Shayna takes these things waaaaay too seriously..._—, Shayna had immediately launched into this fully- developed plan on how we were going to crash our own school's party. We were apparently going to convince the Dj to play certain songs throughout the course of the night, and then we were going to dance. With an audience of over 200 of our high school classmates staring at us, wondering who the hell we were.

The boys were going to be wearing black sneakers with dress pants and button down shirts of different colors, loose ties, and fedoras. (Shayna had thought this all out thoroughly, even going so far as to go shopping with the guys and pick out their clothes for them.) And we girls were going the entire way, which meant dresses and hair dye all around.

Shayna had made Ian and Tyrell hold me down as she pretty much held up different dresses over my clothes and made decisions that way, ignoring my glares. So, I ended up with a dark purple dress, and was going to be wearing it against my will. It had a halter neck (that much I was familiar with) and the bottom part of the dress looked like someone had taken a chainsaw to it. It ended a few inches above my knee, and Shayna was forcing me to wear white leggings underneath that went up to my knees. My calf- high Converse were thankfully going to be my dancing shoes since I had made enough of a scene in the shoe store, and every time that I stepped forward, because of the giant rip that Shayna had made up the side of the dress, my gray shorts would show a little. I was going to borrow a pair of black lace arm warmers from Shayna, as well as a really awesome head band that had a small black top hat on the side with a dark purple ribbon bow surrounded by feathers and lace. (Suffice it to say that the headband made me super happy. So happy that Shayna said that I could keep it, and I made a squeaking noise.)

Shayna had picked out something much brighter for herself; an electric yellow number with only one strap that dipped low in the back. The top of the dress was edged with ruffles, and the bottom had an attempt at a train, with layers and layers of fabric stopping at mid- thigh in the front and slanting to a little below the knees in the back. Under the ray of random sunshine, Shayna was putting black stretchy shorts that stopped a little above mid- thigh. (She refused to believe that she owned a pair of booty shorts, and had gone out and bought the bottoms instead.) Shayna was going to be wearing her knee- high black boots with a little heel, and a white lace cap like what the flappers wore.

After Shayna picked up the dirty blonde bottle and started carefully considering using that color, I hauled ass and got her out of there. Taking her hand, I led Shayna out of the supermarket and through the mall into the nearest costume store. Walking up to the first employee that I saw, I asked her to show me the hair dye section. In turn, she showed me a rainbow. Beside me, Shayna squealed herself to death.

After a whole lot of careful reading and consideration, we had decided that Shayna was going to be wearing forest green hair to the dance, and I was going to have dark blue, almost purple hair. _Huh. Now that I think about it, I can see why Shayna said that we would make the world go round. Our colors do look a bit like the Earth…_ After we had paid, we ran out the store before anyone could see us and back into the car that I had stolen from Tyrell by stealing his keys while Shayna… distracted him. _Because sometimes, it pays to have a couple of lovesick teenagers at your side._ We hopped in and drove to Shayna's apartment, since her room alone takes up the entirety of the second floor of her house.

Tearing up the stairs once we had gotten inside and said hello to Shayna's crazy aunt, who is the one who provides her with most of her crazy clothing, we catapulted onto her bed, carefully avoiding where the dresses were laid out. As we laid there, I got the feeling that something was wrong somewhere. I didn't know where or with who, but something was off. Shayna distracted me quickly enough.

"Ok, so we have 3 and a half hours until the dance, which definitely gives us enough time to get everything done. So, jump into the shower from now, and I'll go shower in the other one, and take the hair dye with you. Oh, and Val? Does your hair dry curly or straight?" Shayna shot out information like some sort of psychopathic computer, and I had to really listen to keep up.

Blinking a few times, since Shayna could have given a vampire a run for their money, I finally answered. "It dries a little wavy, but the waves eventually drop out once it dries."

Shayna nodded, and then said, like the dictator that she was turning into with every second that we got closer to this dance, "We'll have to put some rollers into your hair so that people don't immediately recognize it. If your hair is straight like usual, people will guess. So I'll help you out once your hair is blue." Without another word, Shayna walked out, and for the hundredth time, I wondered exactly what I had gotten myself into.

20 minutes later, I emerged from the bathroom, and Shayna squealed loudly and happily from her seat on the bed. I took that to mean that I had put in the hair dye properly and not permanently screwed up my head. Shayna got a hold of herself, then held up a hair dryer with one hand and a bag of hair rollers with another. I wanted to go back to the safety of the bathroom. "Come sit down in my spinning chair of hairdressing _wonder_," Shayna sang, an evil glint in her eyes. Throwing up a silent prayer and hoping that someone up there would read it, I sat down.

Shay came around to the front and looked at me. "Hmm… tiny ones would look cuter…" She said, and I sat there clueless as to what was about to happen. Poor me.

* * *

_**-2- and- a- Half Hours Later-**_

I stood in front of the mirror, a large smile on my face. _Huh. Very different expression than what I thought I would have on my face when someone stuffed me in a dress._ Shayna stood beaming beside me, her smile almost as bright as her dress. "We clean up nice, girl," I said to Shayna, high- fiving her.

We were finally fully dressed, with make- up on and everything. And I had only poked myself in the eye with the mascara once. Shayna had used some sort of pasty thing to make herself look darker than she really was, and then she had smeared some of the stuff on me to make me seem a few shades lighter. "Now, if anyone asks, we're some of the kids from Step Up," Shayna said, and I chuckled, now feeling a bit nervous. It was just hitting me that we were _really_ doing this. And I couldn't just rip the dress off and go back upstairs. Not after everything that Shayna had done, and all the stress she had put herself under.

…_Damn it, Esme has made me *care*. Do you understand how hard it is now to not think about other people? Damn it, it's a good thing I don't eat, otherwise I might have blown some chunks right about now._

It was 6, and I shook my head at Shayna. "Yeah, I should have figured that we were operating on Shayna time." She stuck her tongue out at me, and the doorbell rang. We pretty much rocketed down the stairs, past Shayna's aunt who told us that we looked "good enough to eat!" and to make sure that we "break some hearts tonight!" (The woman is crazy.) By the time that we reached the door, Shayna was looking like her nerves were slightly shot. She threw it open, and then— "Holy shitake mushrooms!"

"'Sup, girls?" Tyrell asked calmly, as though he hadn't dyed his hair to match Hatake Kakashi. The dark grayish- silver color looked super cool with his green shirt, though, and within seconds, Shayna had leapt up and just laid one on him. I raised an eyebrow at the couple, and muttered to myself, "Well, I guess that means Tyrell looks good…"

I looked behind the two people attached at the lips and both eyebrows shot up. "Damn, Ian, who woulda thought there was something like this under all that you?" The boy looked good. Taking in the fire engine red that he had decided to dye his hair, I told myself to suck it up and not judge the color from my past horrible experiences with certain red- haired people. _Besides, it looks really good on him._

Ian stared at me flat- out for another few seconds before finally blurting out, "Damn, you're gorgeous." I raised an eyebrow, and the blush that was already on his face just grew even bigger. I chuckled a bit, and pushed past him, getting into the car. Ian trailed along behind me, and we waited for Shayna and Tyrell to stop vacuuming each other's faces. Lacing my fingers together, I looked over at Ian, who was sitting in the driver's seat. "You ready for this?"

Ian nodded, passing me a plastic bag that was sitting in the back seat. I reached into it, and pulled out a mask. "Hmm… I always did want to be the next Zorro…"

Ian rolled his eyes and said, "Just put it on." Then, because I am impatient, I honked the car horn, watching as Shayna finally leapt off of Tyrell's body and got into the back seat. I turned around, pursed my lips at her, and then said, "You are so lucky that I didn't pry you off of him."

Shayna didn't even have the decency to blush. "We didn't take that long. And if it makes you feel better, I didn't screw up my make-up at all."

"It doesn't. It really doesn't."

We threw comments back and forth the entire way to the dance, and by the time that I got the school in my line of vision, I was seriously considering clawing my way out of the car. However, because I am a masochist,—_See kids? This is what happens when you hang out with brooding, masochistic vampires for long periods of time. Cough, Edward, Cough…_—I hopped out of the passenger side and leaned against the car door, adjusting my mask in the mirror. Ian walked around the length of the car, and then held out an arm to me. "You ready to go, milady?"

I glared up at him, leaving him to invite birds to perch on his arm. He chuckled and followed after me. Shayna was walking hand in hand with Tyrell behind us, and both of them were smiling so sickeningly sweetly that I could have vomited. _Their sweetness irks me._

We walked around the corner and into the school parking lot. I scanned over the amount of cars that were lined up, happy to see that no one was actually getting out. If someone had been getting out of their car, then I would have had to—

Ian chuckled low under his breath. "Calm down, Val. It's panic at the disco, not the school dance." I smiled at that because honestly, Ian amuses me greatly.

The small smile on my face traded for a "WTF?" face when I saw that there was a giant flashlight with arms standing, lit up and everything, in front of the school doors with a clipboard in hand. When I saw whose face was sticking out of the little hole in the fabric, I then started laughing and clutching my sides. _Oh, this is freaking priceless! Where the hell is a camera when you need one?_

Mr. Fuller was looking us over, and from both his confused looks and his thoughts, I could tell that he didn't recognize us. Just to throw him for another flaming loop, I smiled brightly and adapted some of the accent that I'd heard from that woman Gloria that I'd heard on modern family. "Hi! We're here for the party?"

Ian elbowed me lightly in the side, and I didn't even bother with looking at him. He sighed softly, then threw an arm over my shoulder. And that was when he decided to become a British exchange student. "I think that wea on the list…"

Mr. Fuller looked over each of us, still not getting who the heck we were. _Damn, it is amazing what some make up and hair dye can do…_ "Umm, your costumes are amazing. I can't even tell who you lot are. Could I have your names, please?"

I looked at Ian, then glanced behind me at Shayna and Tyrell. All were smirking like it was going out of style. "Ian Sullivan- Magee." Mr. Fuller's eyes widened.

"Valerie McCarthy," I piped up, saluting Mr. Fuller with 2 fingers. His mouth dropped open.

"Shayna Polycarpe?" Shayna fought to not giggle, and I knew that by this time Tyrell was probably holding her even tighter around the waist and hoping that she didn't fly off the sidewalk with glee. Mr. Fuller made a squeaky noise from the back of his throat.

"Tyrell Walcott- Stovicek." Tyrell watched as Mr. Fuller's mouth then dropped open even more, and Shayna kept giggling in the background. Finally, after he checked off our names on the clipboard, he faintly said, "Have a good time…"

Ian tipped his fedora to him and we all walked inside. The lights were bouncing all over the place, making everything a completely unnatural color, and the DJ was playing softly (to human ears) at the moment. No one was on the dance floor as yet; everyone was clustered together, looking at each others outfits, eating, just chatting in general.

My foot started tapping of its own accord, and I realized that there was no way in hell that I was going to be able to wait any longer. I turned to the others. "Apparently, we're going to be playing the part of the party-starters. I'll be back."

I walked over to the DJ's spin table, and poked him not to politely in the side. Keeping up with the accent, I smiled brightly at him. "Could you please put on the song, "Blah Blah Blah?" The guy took one look at me, and immediately started to nod like one of those bobble- head dolls. _Oh, it pays to be a vampire…_

I beamed him a smile, told him thank you, and then walked back to the middle of the dance floor. Ian passed me, and I whispered the song that was coming up next to him, exchanging a small smile with him. Regardless of the adrenalin entering my system, I still felt a little pang in my stomach, telling me that something was seriously wrong. I didn't think about it, telling myself that it was probably just the nerves talking. The song that was currently playing stopped short, and I heard the beginning of Ke$ha. Immediately, I went through the dance moves that Ian and I had been perfecting for the past few weeks, and smiled. _Let the show begin.

* * *

_____

_**-4 Hours Later—**_

_Damn it! Why the hell didn't I try to get here earlier? I should have trusted my gut! Fuckit! _I was running full- on vampire speed to the Martinez summer house. And, since I was being completely honest with myself and not even bothering to stop beating myself up about things, I was simultaneously yelling at myself in my mind over how stupid I was for not trusting my gut, which has gotten me out of countless situations before this.

I leapt over a rabbit's burrow, and a few seconds after I had left the immediate area, I heard the rabbits start to scurry. I bitterly swore at myself, since the rabbits trusted their instincts much more than_ I_ did. I pushed myself to go even farther, trying to reach the vacation house as soon as possible.

As I got closer, I picked up the smell of engine oil and nearly had a panic attack. No one in the house drove. There was no need. I pushed myself even farther, needlessly hyperventilating when I smelt the obvious wolf smell mixed in with the human and avian smell. I finally got onto the little road that led to the house and rushed into the front yard.

There were four semis out front. There were 21 guards, all of them armed. I let out a small choking noise in the back of my throat. Reaching out with my mind, I tried to find where everyone was. I couldn't hear anything coming from the house. I called out to Fang, Max, Skye, Angel, anyone who would listen…

…Except for Demon. I wasn't exactly sure what I would do if I didn't get a response, so I didn't set myself up for a breakdown.

After I had called out for everyone twice, I finally got an answer from Fang, who seemed to be the only one coherent enough to answer. **Val…?**

When I finally realized, in my crazy "WTF IS HAPPENING?" haze, that all of the answers that I could decipher were coming from the semi, that was about where I flipped north.

I leapt onto the roof of one of the trucks, and peeled back the roof similar to a banana. That, obviously, alerted everyone that I was there, seeing as the next thing that happened was that 21 people were pouring out of the various vans, pointing a variety of weapons at me. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I said to myself, "Oh, that's nice…," and then jumped off of the top of the car. All weapons followed me.

Fang, who was pretty much my link to the past four hours or so, started to mentally talk to me, and I split my attention between making sure that no one said anything to me and listening to him. **Val? If that's you, could you tell me what's going on? Why is there a hole in the roof?**

One of the guards took a step forward, and I abruptly punched a hole in the side of the van that I knew that Fang was lying on the floor in. Inside of the van, I heard Angel give a yelp, then start to cough. As the smell finally wafted over to me, I froze, pulling my hand back through the side of the van.

_Fang?_ I started off, trying to keep those stupid things called my emotions in check since they were making me panic even more. _Fang, why do I smell blood? Are you guys sick?_

Now I have never been particularly religious, but right then I was praying to all the gods out there that I had ever heard of that he didn't say what I thought he would. If he actually admitted it, I was going to spontaneously combust from the amount of emotions that were running through me. _Damn it! I need Jasper!_

Before I could get another answer from Fang, one of the guards started to talk to another person beside him. "Why is she here! And how the hell did she do that?"

I snapped my head towards the two who were brave enough to break the silence. "Where are you taking them?" I asked, not even bothering with the beating around the bush. If what my stupid all- knowing vampire mind was basically pointing out to me with neon blinking arrows was right, then the less time I spent talking, the better.

They all started to look at each other, conversing in what they thought to be low tones. "It doesn't really matter what she knows. There's just one of her." "What happens if she tells? No one would believe her anyway." "She can't run that far." _Oh, you have no idea._ The real deal breaker for me was when one of the guards said, "It's not like we couldn't kill her too."

Without thinking, I dropped a little lower into a more fight- ready position, because that was the straw that broke the camel's back. One of the guards who had been talking earlier finally confirmed my thoughts: "We're putting them down. They're expiring."

That was all that I needed to hear. Everything else was just static. At vampire speed, I leapt over to one of the other vans and stole Iggy, Mira, and Skye from it, dropping them off with Fang, Angel, and Jinx. I managed to get every single person into the original van, and then whipped around and started to growl at the 21 guards who seemed to be internally and externally having a panic attack. _Yeah, I can do that to people…_

After making sure that the door was locked, I lunged at the guards, who seemed to have forgotten about the fact that they had guns. I danced around all of them, making sure that I only tapped them hard enough that they would be knocked unconscious, and not dead. Once I had stopped spinning around people, I hopped into the front of the van and stopped short. _Crap._

I found Fang's mental presence again. _Umm, Fnick? Do you know exactly how to drive a semi?_

What I got instead of an actual answer was Fang yelling at me. **VAL? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!**

I sighed, turning around to look Fang in the eye. Or at least, in the face. "Ok, so here's the deal. You're all dying. But you didn't tell me directly, so I'm having what most would call a panic attack, but I'm calling an out- of- body experience. So, I'm gonna try to save you, as well as repent for at least one sin in my life. But first, I need to make a phone call."

I pulled the phone from where it had been hidden in my bra- _Thank you, Alice_- and dialed Alice's number. She picked up on the first call. "WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? Your future's so freaking fuzzy that I can't see a damn thing!"

I gripped the steering wheel a little tighter in one hand, and tried not to crush the phone in the other hand. "Ok, so I guess that you have no idea what's going on, and this is what happens when pixies get angry. Now, I need for you to get Emmett on the damn phone. I don't know his number, which, quite frankly, sucks like a lollipop at this point."

Alice must have looked like some sort of mini- volcano, and I could only imagine what Jasper's face must have looked like. In the midst of this nightmare that I chose to call my existence, I started to laugh hysterically. This also did not bode well with Alice. "You had better tell me what the f!$ is going on, or so help me—"

"Alice? Getting angry at me at this point will not help anything. In fact, it will only worsen the situation. So I am asking you to get Emmett on the phone, otherwise I might just blow up. Thank you."

I think that at this point, she got so fed up with me that she just threw the phone to Emmett, who immediately answered, which I was elated for. "What's cookin', good lookin'?"

"They're expiring." I didn't have time to question his phone answer, but I needed to get him to understand.

The phone- line was silent, and then Emmett got serious. "Where are you?"

I ran a hand down my face. "That's not the right question. The right question is 'Do you know how to drive a van?'"

"Val?" Fang tried to get me to talk to them again. I waved him off, much more focused on getting them out of the immediate area.

"Valerie, I'm running right now and trying to follow your scent. What direction should I be going in? Since the house, you know, basically emanates your smell."

I pictured myself jumping out of my window, and running straight in that direction. "West. Straight west. If you can, just try to smell me from the air. I usually fly."

"Got it. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Hurry it up." I closed the phone and leaned on the steering wheel. Sighing fully, I turned around in the seats and looked at everyone. I knew for a fact that Rosalie was going to have a freaking field day when she learned that I decided to turn everyone, but I honestly did not care. I got a second chance, and there was no way in the seven layers of hell that I was going to sit back and watch the others die.

"All right. This probably would have been better to tell you when you all weren't dying, but oh well. Life sucks like that. So, the thing is… Oh, jeez, I'm going to sound like a grade A psycho… I'm a vampire. There! The end. I'm going to need to get you all changed so that you—DAMN IT, HOPE! STOP DYING!—Stop fading out, or I'm going to have some serious problems here," I blurted out everything that I could in one little bundle, and by the time that I finished yelling at Hope, everyone was looking at me like I was even more crazy than before.

Of course, as soon as Iggy said, "What the hell?", Emmett appeared outside the door.

"Umm, Valerie? I'm not sure if you want to hear this now, you know, while you're having your panic attack-" Emmett started.

"Out of body experience," I interrupted him. He kept going on as if I hadn't said anything.

"—But the reinforcements are coming," Emmett finished, pulling me out of the car to stand beside him. I froze. "WHAT?"

And that was when Edward popped out of the bushes like all of those little woodland creatures from Snow White with Jasper beside him and a furry Leah two steps behind. They looked at the house, which I had only just realized had the front door completely broken down, to the 21 unconscious half wolf people that were lying on the front lawn, to the broken windows to the four semi trucks that were sitting outside of the house, three of them completely ripped open. Carlisle, who caught up a few seconds later, looked around and said, "What on earth happened here?"

I threw my hands up in the air, ready to strangle someone or maybe send up a flare saying that I needed somebody to give me a sign that things weren't going to get any worse. Unfortunately, because the back door of the van suddenly opened—_Damn it! I thought I locked that!_-, I never got the chance to answer Carlisle. Skye stumbled out of the back of the car, her skin looking morbidly pale—_Oh, not a good thing to be noting. I could either now break out into hysterical laughter or just keel over and die right about now…_- and sweating as if we had taken a trip to Egypt or something. She took a few baby steps toward me, but when she started to crumble I raced toward her as fast as I could and helped to hold her up.

"Ok… since you won't answer the questions… in the van…," Skye started to talk, and I could smell the blood that had made its way out of where it should have probably been. She was taking random breaths of air in the middle of phrases, and I didn't know what to think of that because, what the flip, man, we have _freaking lungs AND air sacs!_

"Oh my gosh, I should wring your freaking neck. You ain't got no damn need to be over- exertin' yo' self and here you are, gettin' outta da freakin' van ac'in' like you ain't got no damn sense! The hell, gurl, all'a you expirin' and I'm goin' outta my co'in pickin' mine! You mus' be ou'cho'z!" I said, yelling at Skye while simultaneously pulling her over to lean against the van side.

Skye waved me off, somehow already used to me yelling at her when she did something stupid, even though it was usually the other way around. "You said that you were… a vampire… And that you were going… to change us… How—?" Here she cut off because of an abrupt coughing fit that took over her body. I held her tighter, making sure that she didn't just fall to the ground after all of that attempting to hack up a lung.

I reached up a hand to run through my hair, abruptly realizing that I was still in my party clothes, and that there was no need for me to run my hand through anything when it was all back into a ponytail. I put a hand on Skye's head, dropping the entire "yes, I do have an internal heater" charade and using my body as a non-human ice pack. She leaned into my hand and closed her eyes…

"So help me Jesus, if you faint on mah shoulda, I'm 'unna slap you from here to eternity," I growled at her, taking my hand away. She glared up at me, and I felt proud, because obviously, Skye learned that from me. There was never a shyer person that had ever graced this Earth.

"Answer…?" Skye said, and I inhaled really fast. "Ok, so I lied when I said that Itex shot me with something. I passed out, and got changed into a vampire. Lovely story really, I was forced to lay still like a dead person for about 3 days and feel as though there was fire racing through me. And then I woke up looking like this."

I felt the van move again, and then I realized that every single person who I had put in there in the first place was climbing out of the back. "Mierda! Pendejos! Tratan darme un ataque de la corazon?" I yelled at Nudge, who was the first one to nearly fall over, coughing up blood. I stopped breathing, because I had just realized that they smelled _appetizing_.

I ran a hand down my face. I turned to Carlisle. "Hey, Doc? You got a syringe in that lab coat of yours?" Stunned, Carlisle handed me a needle out of nowhere.

I leapt into the air, inhaled the smell of 13 bleeding, amazing smelling family members, and on cue I felt my mouth start to pool with venom. Quickly, and not dwelling on the fact that this was possibly the most disgusting thing that I had ever done before in my life, I landed beside Skye. With a quick check of her pulse, I tried to figure out just how much time she had left. "Holy shift. You sound… human…" Skye's head whipped to mine, eyes wide, and I listened closely to everyone else closely. Everyone's heartbeats were slowing down, and as if things weren't rotten enough, the Erasers were getting close to coming back to the land of the almost- living.

"Skye, whatever you do in the next few seconds, make the decision to keep living, got it?" I asked quickly, and her last word—if you could call it that—before I plunged the needle into a vein in her arm was "What!"

Emmett was torn between a bunch of topics, it seemed. "I'm not sure whether or not I should laugh or be worried. And why the frick didn't you just bite her? And that's Skye?"

I looked him dead in the eye, holding a Skye who was now telling me that it burned. "Look me in the eye and ask me one of those questions again."

Emmett seemed to not be as stupid as the questions that he sometimes asked. Instead, he turned to Carlisle and asked him if he had another syringe. Then he grabbed Nudge, and said, "Sorry, kid. Hopefully I'll get a chance to learn your name soon." I glared at him from where I was standing beside Max, who was in turn glaring at me. _**You are in so much trouble when I wake up.**_

I rolled my eyes. _Good job, girl. Keep up that optimism._ With that, I jabbed the rest of the syringe into her skin. Her response was immediate, and her arm started twitching. Her other arm moved to hold it, and she looked up at me. "When I'm through with you…"

I rolled my eyes, turning to Fang next. Fang was the worst with needles, and so I couldn't rush through his change. I looked Fang in the eye, and quicker than he could probably see, I hit a pressure point in each of his legs. He crumbled to the floor with a glare from me, and I smirked at him before filling the needle again and putting it into his skin. "Deal with it for Max, Fnicky boy. She'll be waiting on the other side." Behind me, where he was working on Angel, Emmett let out a glee- filled squeal. "Plus, Em would like to go over some stuff with you."

I worked my way through everyone, ending with Demon. _Why the flip does this always happen to me? _I bent down to his level. "Ok, buddy, you can't die on me now. Hold out a little longer, ok? The only reason that I'm not having the good doctor do this is because he'd get into deeper crap than he is now. "

Demon chuckled super- weakly, and I was happy to know that he was still conscious enough to find things that I said in all seriousness very funny. "I trust you, Val."

Suddenly, everything seemed to be coming back to me, and I leaned back in surprise. _What happens if I change him and he doesn't remember? What if he wakes up, opens his eyes, and doesn't remember who he is? Or what if he doesn't remember *what* he is? Oh, God, I'm gonna be sick…_

I inhaled deeply, try to get my thoughts back under control, and stopped short. He smelled _abnormally good._ I took another sniff, getting closer and closer to his neck. "You…" I couldn't even get through my sentence, instead pressing closer to him. I rested my nose on his jugular and inhaled. I could have sworn that I momentarily blacked out, and the venom started pooling in my mouth.

And then, somewhere in the back of my mind, I heard him say, "Val… bite me…" Somewhere else in the back of my mind, I said to myself _As if I needed any more encouragement…_

I bit down onto Demon's neck, sucked in a little bit…

…And just as quickly pulled back. Not because my self control was splendid at the moment or anything, but because of the fact that it tasted… _rotten… spoiled…_

I backed away from Demon slowly, because the next word that was going to come to mind was "expired… "

"D? D, you have to listen to me ok? You're going to be fine. Nothing's going to happen. So help me, if you die on me after everything we have been through, Demon, I will come find your soul in the afterlife and kick its ass from here to eternity. Don't you _dare_ do this to me, damn it!" I yelled at him, backing away, and watching as he crumbled to the ground. I had never hoped for some backwash more than in these few seconds. And that was when it hit me that Demon's must have been the first one to show up.

It felt like I was under water as I watched Demon lift his hand to his neck. His face twisted in pain, and I waited, paralyzed in fear. As if there weren't enough problems in my life at the moment, I heard two other things too: the sound of the Erasers coming fully to, and the distant tell- tale buzzing that always led to trouble. Finally, I heard it; his heart started to hit double time, giving him the appearance of a regular human at least. And then it kept picking up, until he was going even faster than we hybrids did. I let out a happy sigh, and I ran a hand down my face. _Thank God._

I picked him up and put him into the van. "Thanks, Emmett." I could see him nod out of my peripheral vision, and directed my attention to the guards getting up from the floor. I contemplated knocking them out again, but decided instead on something else. I walked up to one of them, looked him in the eyes, then grabbed him by the shirt and threw him straight up into the air. _Now it's fun time. And I need an aspirin in the worst way._

_**And now you know the reson behind the chapter. REVIEW, MY SWEETS!**_

_**Peace, love, and "Damn. LeBron James has his own bubble gum? Not even Jesus had his own brand of gum...",**_

_**Skittles31**_


	43. First impressions and Tact

_**HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLUMSY CARRIE! This chapter is dedicated to my darling friend who turns 16 today! I love you, sweetie pie! Hope your having a happy b-day! Not much to say. This is the first chapter that I have been able to post since school started last week Tuesday. Be happy.**_

**_Disclaimer: HAHAHAHAHAno._**

**_And now, ON WITH THE STORY!

* * *

_**_**-Val POV-**_

I highly doubt that I've ever been this out of touch with my body. Every movement that I made, it seemed like I was looking at the world from someone else's eyes. I felt kind of high. _Cool…_

I watched as the Eraser flew through the air, and judged that I might have had about 20 seconds before he started to come back down. I turned to the other 20 bootleg werewolves who were staring up at their comrade flying through the air like freaking Peter Pan. I assumed the default position—arms crossed, hip cocked to the side, blank stare—and ran my eyes over each person.

Then I let loose a hysterical chuckle. I was going to freaking _flip north_. "You know what I learned about at school? The atmosphere. I hear that apparently, then farther up into space that you go, the thinner the air becomes." Now the Erasers were looking at me like I had just announced that my daddy was Santa Claus.

I looked back up at the air. "I say that your buddy has about 30 seconds more before he meets the ground. And I have some questions, so if you answer 'em right, then Peter Pan up there can possibly survive this. But he might be huffing and puffing by the time that he gets back."

I glared at each and every one of them. "Who the hell called for back-up? And don't you dare lie, otherwise I might just start lighting your clothes on fire as I juggle you."

Everyone looked panicked, and I let out a breath from between clenched teeth. "You have 20 seconds now, people. And the way that you're going, I sincerely hope that you like your pancakes flat and bloody."

Finally, one of the bigger ones toward the back tried to put on a brave face and said, "I called for back-up."

I looked at him, cocking my head to the side. "Alright. Good. You didn't lie." Then, too fast for them to see, I grabbed him by the shirt front, twirled around once on my toes and shot him up into the air. I laughed as I watched him fly upwards. "Say hi to your buddy if you see him."

There was a short growling noise, and then they all burst into their hairy forms. I watched as the model- like faces got even uglier, stretching into wolf snouts. I looked calmly up into the sky, and finally watched Eraser number one drop. He landed in my outstretched hands, and I did another quick turn, throwing him straight into the growling wolves with a slight flick of my wrist.

"Next question: How the frick did you find us?" I asked, watching as the wolves all tried to get up after my little bowling party.

The former astronaut stood up, blood running down the side of his face. Abruptly, sparks started to fly off of my fingers. _Oh, lovely._ "Once expiration dates start to show up, we can track you." And then, there was an even more feral smile on his face. "After all, we need to know where to pick up the corpses…"

That was about where I snapped, and everything was suddenly super bright. _Huh. Well I must be pissed if I'm checking out of my own mind._

_**-Emmett POV-**_

_**(A.N. Because I adore him almost as much as I love Jasper.)**_

I don't think that I've ever been as shocked stiff as I was as I saw the air around Valerie suddenly just light on fire. **Holy crapplejacks.**

There was no way in hell that I was ever getting her pissed off again. Everyone else, maybe, but not Valerie.

The looks on the faces of - **…damn it, what did Fang call them again… Erasers?** **Yeah, that was the word**—the Erasers were those of shock and horror. If I weren't frozen in my spot myself, I probably would have been laughing like nobody's business.

"You're _Valerie_?" The dude who had just been sent skywards looked like one of those cartoon characters, that's how wide his eyes were. I could hear his heart start beating faster and faster, the adrenalin rushing through his system. "But, we thought you were…"

Valerie laughed like ice, and I watched as all of the Erasers visibly shuddered. "Oh, don't worry. I'm still dead."

I almost took pity on the Erasers, whose faces were permanently twisted into confused expressions. She smiled humorlessly, and then I knew that I might have to get all of the Flock ought of here soon if they didn't want to be involved in the blood war that was about to happen. "It's just that you guys are going to be much deader than I am if I have anything to say about it."

In about 6 seconds, all of the Erasers were sitting in one van, literally squished in beside each other. And as if they weren't scared enough, the crazy bird girl that I'd come to love as a sister plucked the other Eraser out of the air as he came down from space and threw him into the semi through the giant hole in the roof. **Oh right, I forgot that was there. **Val then proceeded to weld the back door shut, weld another piece of another van onto the front of the van over the windows, and then came out of nowhere with a long iron link chain and wrapped it tightly around the entire semi five times. It was kind of scary, to watch Valerie at work. She didn't crack another smile, and her face was fixed into a permanent glare. **Or maybe it's a scowl. Or maybe it's that facial expression that Edward had done when he had that tree trunk permanently stationed up his ass in the pre- Bella Bee era…**

After Val had welded the chain to itself, making it impossible for any of the Erasers to get out of the van in any way shape or form… unless they were Kitty from the X- Men… Wait, could Erasers do that? Note to self: ask Fang- **OH HAPPY DAYS!**- or Valerie whether or not the Erasers had any of the mystical powers from the X-Men…

Anyway, after Val had finished being a psychopathic non- murderer, she looked dead at me. _Keep them safe, or I will hunt you down and spread out your body parts all over the country._

I smiled at her, saluting her. "Will do!" She half- smiled, and I watched as she turned around, ran, and took off into the air. It was only after she took off that I heard the buzzing sound coming from the air that she was heading towards.

I turned around, looking at the semi that I was going to have to empty out. Well, the nearest thing that I could think of was the beds that everyone had been sleeping in. So I picked up two of my soon to be new family members and went into the house. **Let's see how well this ends up working out… It had better work out well, otherwise Rose may kill me for just leaving her like that… and then Val will rip me to shreds and sprinkle me across the country… and then I'll never get the chance to meet Fang.**

I was more determined than ever to make sure that this worked out, and I swore I could hear Val in the back of my head sigh in exasperation. _Oh, Emmett…_

I stopped and stuck my tongue out at the giant blazing ball of fire that had stationed itself in the night sky. **You just wish you were this awesome!**

* * *

_**-One Hour Later-**_

"Leah, can you come with me somewhere? I have to work something out," I walked into the house, looking straight to where we apparently had visitors on the couch.

"Umm, who are you?" There was a very pretty looking, Latin American man-boy with dark brown skin and eyes in the middle of the living room. Standing next to him was a woman with Fang's skin tone and dark hair. He towered over her, and she only came up to his shoulder. They were both dressed casually, and Ricky Suave was fixed on Nessie, it seemed, who was sitting on the piano bench.

Esme flitted over, wondering why on earth I was dressed like I had just come from some sort of Halloween party. _Maybe because I just did?..._ "Valerie, you have to learn to great people better than that. Either way, these are Nahuel and his aunt Huilen. They're friends of ours from a few years ago, when we had some… trouble. Nahuel, Huilen, this is my newest daughter, Valerie."

Nahuel managed to tear his eyes away from Nessie long enough to look at me. I nodded my head at him, and his aunt held out her hand to me. "It's nice to meet you," she said softly, and I heard a soft accent in her voice that I couldn't place. I reached out my hand to as well, still wondering what the flipnod these two people were doing here. _Could there possibly BE a case of worse timing?_

Leah popped her head out from my room, which is where she usually spends some time with Kami. Except that it was 1 o'clock in the morning, and I expected that Kami had already gone to sleep by now. Leah, on the other hand, is a bit of an insomniac. "What's wrong? And what the frick are you wearing?" Meanwhile, Kami, who was surprisingly awake even at this late hour, was saying, "Mommy! You look really nice! Did you and Daddy go on a date?"

I cringed visibly, and made a mental note to throw Alice's clothes into the ocean when she and Jasper were too preoccupied to do anything about it.

The Huilen lady looked between me and Leah, who was now descending from the steps with Kami on her hip. "You still spend time with the wolves? I thought it was for simply that one time years ago…"

Esme smiled tightly, and I almost didn't recognize the expression of discomfort on her face. It was weird to think that Esme could feel any other thing except excessive joy and love. That, or the occasional anger when Jasper/ Emmett/ Edward broke something in the house with their wrestling. "They're like family now."

Leah slid Kami out of her arms and into mine. "No, sweetheart, I didn't go on a date with anyone. Mommy went to a dance."

Kami's eyes widened. "You went to a dance? Tell me about it!"

I smiled down at her. This little bundle of joy was possibly what kept me together and from just up and being a fully evil person. "I will. But first, Mommy and Aunty Leah have to talk about going to visit your other grandma, possibly with Uncle Seth, ok?"

Leah looked at me like I had something wrong with me. "When did we have this conversation about going to visit anyone?"

I gave her a look over Kami's head. "We have something that I need to discuss with her. So come on. And convince your brother to come with us. I have a good feeling that something good's gonna happen to him if he comes with us."

Leah looked at me long and hard. I could practically see the gears turning in her head. "We're heading to Colorado. We need to make up a story about how Max and family died for her family so they don't come looking. And weren't you saying that you wanted to go somewhere with me and get away from this place for a little while?"

Leah finally shrugged. "I'll have to ask Jacob. Although I have a feeling that he'll probably say that I can go. There's not that much for us to do while we're here, you know?"

I nodded and told her to pack lightly, for about 2-3 days. _Damn it, it would have been really nice to see how long it would have taken for us to take this little trip…_

I ran up the stairs, grabbing my duffle bag, and throwing in two changes of clothes for me and two for Kami. I saw that there were two shirts and one pair of jeans missing from the closet, so I knew that Leah was already packed. I set Kami down on the bed and ran to the bathroom in the hallway, taking off the mask that was still on my face from the dance and scrubbing any traces of make- up from my face. I decided to just leave the hair dye in until I came back, since that would take too much time.

I went back into my room and grabbed Kami, slinging her onto my hip. Leah was waiting for me when I got downstairs and I leapt over to Esme, planting a kiss on her cheek without thinking.

"I'll see you in three days, Mom," I said, and I smiled at her as her eyes started to water/ venom/ become more apt to crying. I'd never called her Mom before, and honestly, I could have punched myself for not doing it sooner, seeing how happy she was.

She sniffled, and a giant watery smile of happiness spread across her face. "Where are you going, sweetheart?" She asked, wiping at her eyes.

I hitched Kami up a little higher on my waist and looked back to Esme. "We have to go and break some news to Kami's other grandma," I said, giving her a look that said that I would explain when I got back. She nodded, and then abruptly she hugged me, obviously super happy. She kissed me on the cheek, and pulled away to kiss Kami on the forehead. "Listen to Mommy when you're on the road, okay?" Kami nodded, and Leah coughed at the doorway. "You wanna get going anytime soon?" I rolled my eyes at her impatience and followed her out the door, walking into the garage.

There was a post- it on the door from Alice with her keys to the Porsche beside the note. "_You owe me an explanation."_ I took the keys from the hook and nodded at the note, making a mental note to thank Alice. I put Kami in the back booster seat and then Leah got into the driver's seat. Before we could get out of the driveway, I heard Seth's voice. "Hey, where're you guys going?"

I leaned out of the opened window, looking into the forest where Seth was standing shirtless. "Hey buddy! You wanna go on a road trip?"

Seth looked over his shoulder to where I'm assuming that Jacob was and then looked back at us. His eyes were bright… well, brighter than usual, anyway. "Sure, I'll come with you! I'm getting kind of bored, anyway. There's nothing to do…"

"Right, right. So, while you're at it, Seth, you wanna ask Jake if Leah has the right to go, too?"

Seth didn't even have to ask Jake again, since he had already heard from me directly. And then, to my extreme surprise—_Well, not really…_- there was a low whine that I heard. Leah, curiously enough, was sitting beside me and doing everything in her power to not look in the direction of the forest. Jake stepped out of the cover of the trees, far enough that Leah and I could see him but Kami couldn't, and looked dead at Leah. I looked between the two of them, opting to be the one to break the awkward silence. "Yes or no, Jake? You can chew Leah out when we get back."

He looked at Leah for a few more seconds, then nodded his head at me and went back into the forest. As soon as he was out of sight, I heard the giant howl that he just let rip, and Leah cringed again.

I told Seth to hurry up and pack two pairs of clothes, and within 2 minutes, he was ready to go. He hopped in beside Kami and Leah managed to get us all out of the drive-way in one quick swing around.

* * *

_**-1 and a Quarter Days Later—**_

"I can _not _believe this is happening," I said, as I watched the girl whom I knew to be Ella get involved in a stare down with Seth. I mean, I knew that I thought deep down, as in "way down deep, past my soul", that something good was going to happen to Seth, but this…?

"Hi, I'm Seth Clearwater," Seth said. Ella's face was dumbstruck. She opened her mouth and I could hear her heart start to beat faster, which probably meant that Leah and Seth could hear it too, if the giant smile on Seth's face that just kept on widening was anything of a hint. But Leah, on the other hand, looked as if someone had just told her that her puppy had walked off a cliff.

Ella managed to get a sound out of her mouth. "Hi," she said quickly, and then all the blood rushed to her head in one tomato- colored blush.

Then Kami—_God bless her, the little awkward- silence- breaking cherub! I knew that I taught her well!_—flew over into Ella's arms, and nearly knocked her over. "Auntie Ella!"

Ella stumbled backwards, managing to get a grip on Kami. "So, Val, what are you doing here?" she asked, her face still red and all of her attention still focused completely on Seth, even though she tried to hide it.

And then, as if things weren't weird enough, the person I believed to be Dr. Martinez, a.k.a. the chocolate chip cookie lady, waddled in, and Kami ran over to her. "GRANDMA!" Kami was careful not to plow into her with any of the force in her 6- and- three- quarters year old body, obviously worried about the woman being pregnant.

Dr. Martinez giggled, and then after cooing a little bit at Kami, she turned to look at the rest of us. "So, Valerie, what were you going to say?"

I looked around, my eyes landing on Seth again, who was still staring at Ella like he'd never seen a girl before, although I didn't take offense to it in the way that I would have had the situation been different and he hadn't been a wolf. I couldn't even bother with my other story from before, because honestly, that story was no longer relevant.

I sighed, looking up at the ceiling. "Ok, so I was going to introduce myself, and then explain to you that the reason that I'm here is because Max and the others are in the process of dying."

There was silence throughout the room, and then three very different reactions occurred to the news at the same time:

One: Ella and Dr. Martinez were hysterical, with Ella screaming, "WHAT?" and Dr. Martinez spontaneously crying and sinking down onto the couch, her head in her hands.

Two: Leah was super angry, it would seem, at me. "You couldn't have more tact that that, Valerie? The woman is freaking pregnant and you spring something like that on her? What's wrong with you?"

Three: Seth and Kami were happily oblivious to the bomb that I had just let drop into the atmosphere; Seth just kept on staring at Ella like she was his air, and Kami was playing by herself on the staircase.

Over everyone's hysterics, I continued. "I'm not done yet!" It got quiet slowly, and then, when the only sound was the breathing of 6 people and the occasionally sniffle of a pregnant woman, I kept going. "Like I said, that was what I was going to do before Seth over here imprinted as soon as he walked through the door. Now that he has, I now have the option to tell you the entire real story and save you all the heartache." At the end of my little speech, I smiled, and Dr. Martinez just stared at me as though I had just revealed that Santa Claus was a girl.

Leah mechanically stood up, walked over to stand in front of me, and just stayed there for about 2 seconds. Then, she lunged toward me and hit me upside the head. "YOU ARE AN IDIOT!" Ella, Dr. Martinez, and Kami all flinched at the loud smack that resonated as a result.

I smoothed down my hair and turned to Max's mom. "Max and the others aren't dead. They're just currently turning into vampires, which will take three days and a whole lot of pain to do. If you see them after these three days, you will notice that their eyes will all be golden, they will be super- gorgeous people, cold to the touch, faster and stronger than before, and they won't eat. However, they will drink animal blood. Now here's Leah, previously here for fake comfort and support, who will now tell you all the pretty little things that you need to know about shape- shifters, since she's one too. And, you know, since Seth is completely useless right about now."

Leah growled at me, sitting down beside me and leaning forward on the couch towards the very stunned Martinezes. "Alright, so here's the deal. Seth and I are both part Quileute, and we're descended from the wolves after our last and greatest Spirit Chief, Taha Aki, shared his spirit body with a wolf in order to defeat Utlapa, who tried to take over the Quileute tribe after Taha Aki had banished him. Ever since then, the descendants of Taha Aki have been able to change into wolves. As wolves, we're faster than vampires, enormous (as big as a bear), tall as horses, amazingly strong, run at temperatures of 108 and higher, heal fast and super smoothly, our senses are all amazing, and it's really hard to hurt us in the first place. As humans, some of the wolf characteristics shine through anyway; we're stronger than most people, our skin is harder, we're still super hot, our reflexes are off the charts, and we're really fast. I'm fastest, though.

"The thing is, though, that the reason that we can give you this explanation, is because of the fact that Seth…" Leah winced, but kept going. "…imprinted on you, Ella. Imprinting is basically instantaneously finding your soul mate. He basically can't live without her, and she can't live without him. They… love each other…" Leah's teeth were clenching so hard that I could hear the light squeaking noises that they made. Her fists were clenched on the couch, which I could hear ripping piece by piece.

I quickly picked up the thread, trying to get Leah's mind off of the obvious uncomfortable topic. "We vampires, on the other hand, aren't anything like the shifters. We're cold to the touch, get super beautiful, our senses get even better than before, we're super fast, and super strong. We don't sleep, eat or age; we only drink blood. Depending on what you feed on, your eyes change color; if your eyes are red, you feed on humans. If they're gold like mine are, you feed on animals. Some vampires get super cool extra powers, but that's about it on the vampire front."

I thought for a second, making sure that I hadn't left anything out, and then beamed. "Any questions?"

Dr. Martinez, whose face had gotten a little paler after the first few lines of the shifter explanation, took a few deep breaths and said a little shakily, "So, how many shifters are there? And how many vampires?"

Ella piped in. "Also, are there any other mystical creatures that I need to know about?" She seemed pretty… _excited_ about this entire thing.

I thought about that, wondering why on Earth I hadn't asked Carlisle about that when I had first woken up from my change. "Vampires stay under the radar, for the most part; otherwise we get in trouble with our version of the vampire FBI. There are maybe a few hundred vampires in total, I'd say around 200."

Leah chimed in with information that I couldn't give. "There are 5 of us in our pack, but only three of us travel together since Quil stayed behind to be there for Claire and Embry still hasn't told his mother that he's a wolf, so he can't leave yet. Back in La Push, there's Sam's pack, which keeps growing every time we hear about it but has somewhere around 12 wolves. Other than that, we have never come into actual contact with other shifters before."

Some of Dr. Martinez's color had returned to her face, and she had managed to get herself under enough control to ask, "What exactly is this "imprinting" thing that you said that Seth did to Ella? I mean, they've only known each other for a few minutes. Could you explain it some more?"

I looked over at Leah, who looked about ready to gouge her own eyes out if it meant that she would get out of the room. I looked over at Seth, who had finally sat down and was playing with Kami, but still sneaking glances at Ella, and had the wonderful idea to kill two Flyboys with one punch. _That saying is just completely evil._ "Seth! Make yourself useful and tell Dr. M and Ella what imprinting is. I'm gonna get some more of my Gatorade that I was stored in the trunk."

Dr. M looked confused. "I thought you said that vampires can't eat or drink human food?"

I got up from the couch and looked at her. "Yeah. It's _cherry_ Gatorade. I really don't think you want any." A few milliseconds later, it clicked for her, and her face screwed up in acknowledgement. I grinned. "I figured you wouldn't have liked it had I said it straight out."

She nodded, her face still twisted into a slightly creeped out expression. "Yeah. Thanks for that."

I grabbed Leah by the arm, pulling her along behind me and out the door. I opened the door to the Porsche, leaning in to press the button that pops the trunk. I walked around the back, reached into the cooler and pulled out my bottle. Taking a sip, I focused back on Leah. "So, give it to me straight: what's with you and this imprinting thing?"

Leah growled at me. "Don't."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I wanna know. You can't expect me to just look at you flinching and being all anal about the _word_ and not say anything. That's not me, girl, and you know it."

Leah kept growling at me. "Valerie, I'm serious. Drop it. It's none of your business."

I raised an eyebrow, turning around and looking straight up at the sky, which was beginning to get much lighter. I looked at my skin and saw the subtle sparkles that were beginning to show up. Then I refocused. "You do know that as my almost twin, you most definitely are my business, right? And since you won't tell me straight out, I may just have to read your mind. No loss for me."

Leah stiffened, and I looked at her over my shoulder, knowing that I had just won. She cursed me in English and another language that I didn't know, though I think it was French, and went silent again. "Sam was, and always will be, an asshole. I was dating him, he turned into a wolf, I kept dating him. My cousin Emily came and decided to take a look at my boyfriend. And then he fucking imprints on her. I'm pissed, because he just freaking leaves me without another thought and then I fucking turn into a wolf, and have to share every single one of my thoughts with him because he was my alpha before Jake broke off. So excuse me for being a little sore about the fucking topic!" By the time that she finished, Leah was vibrating with anger, and I was surprised that she hadn't just gone all furry on me by now. _Huh. I guess she has gotten better at controlling her temper… That move to Jake's pack has really done her some good then._

I nodded, taking another sip of fox from my bottle. "So, what would happen if you found your imprint?"

Leah blanched and looked at me as though I had suddenly turned fully human. "Not gonna happen. End of story. I'm the only girl wolf, wouldn't make sense."

"Oh. Ok." It was quiet for a few seconds, and then I had a revelation. "So is that what's screwing up you and Jacob? That you're in love with him and you can't tell him because of the awkward- sauce that is his imprinting on Nessie?"

Leah's jaw could not have possibly dropped any farther. "WHAT?" And then she smacked me upside the head again, screaming, "THERE IS NO TACT!" _**(A.N. CoughAspreyCough…)**_ After about 2 minutes of fish impressions from my favorite furry Wolverina, Leah ran her hand down her face, and I could feel the extra heat make it to her face. I snickered behind my bottle. Saving her from spluttering her way into oblivion, I walked past her, getting ready to go back into the house. "You coming or what?"

I looked in through the front door. "So, how's the conversation going?"

Dr. Martinez was looking at Seth like he was a crazy person. And I realized that Ella had moved to the very edge of the couch beside her mother, leaning fully forward and looking as though she wanted to get up off that couch and sit next to Seth.

"So, how are you two taking all of this? I know it's a lot to take in at one time," I said, coming around to sit in the back of Seth's chair. Ella looked super envious, and I gave her a little smile. I could see her blush a little, and she turned her head away. Then the other reason that I was here hit me. "Oh, crap. Ok. So, Dr. M? Can I call you that? Thanks. Umm, you see, the kids were enrolled in school before the accident—"

Dr. Martinez interrupted me, still giving Seth strange looks out of the corner of her eyes. "Wait. Max went back to school? She swore that she'd never go back to any learning institution ever again."

I shrugged. "Fang got to her. But anyway, this entire thing came without any sort of warning, so I'm gonna need for you to write a little letter saying that you've immediately pulled the children out of school for moving reasons. Meanwhile, I'll try to delete their records from the school database. Or at least get Nudge to do it when she wakes up." _I have just gotten so much better at this entire "optimism" thing…_

Dr. Martinez gave me another look, and then said, "Sure. I'll see what I can do."

I smiled and nodded. "Lovely. Hopefully I'll see a bit more of you in the future and get to know you both better." I hopped off the back of the couch and started to walk out the door.

"Umm, where are you going?" Dr. Martinez asked, and I saw her struggle to get up off the couch. I don't know how, but suddenly when I inhaled, I smelled three distinct scents coming from her direction. Also, there were three mental… pulse- type things that were coming from directly where she stood. I smiled. _I *KNEW* SHE WAS TOO BIG TO BE HAVING ONLY ONE KID!_

"Gotta get home. I have to get to my laptop and attempt to hack into the school system. Then I have to make sure that everyone's all right. Otherwise, I might go ape. And I have to take care of the van full of Erasers that I left outside of the house. They should have woken up by now," I said the last part to myself absently.

Dr. Martinez blinked twice, probably trying to figure out just what the hell I had just said. Seth turned around to look at me, looking as though not looking at Ella was physically bringing him pain. _Suck it up, baby boy._ "So, do I have to go with you guys? Or can I…?" He trailed off, and I saw the hopeful look in his eyes.

I looked at Leah, who was determinedly not looking at her little brother. _Oh, thanks, girly. Leave the giant decision to me to make._ After looking at him for a few minutes, I spoke. "You're gonna have to come up and get your clothes from my chest of drawers. Oh, and you're going to need to help out with the entire thing about you eating like some sort of garbage disposal. Because you are not one person, you are a flipping _crowd_." Leah choked out a laugh behind me, and I turned, raising an eyebrow at her. "And what are you laughing at, Missy? You eat just as much as he does!"

I looked back at Dr. Martinez, and then realized that this was going to be super awkward, just dumping a Hoover vacuum specifically designed for food onto her like this. "Seth, buddy, until you can get a stable place to live, we can figure all this out without causing any suspicion, and Dr. Martinez has the kid, then you have to come back with us. I can't just dump you on a woman who already has way too much on her plate. That would be wrong, and contrary to popular belief, I am not heartless." Both he and Ella visibly deflated, and I felt a bit bad, but really. The woman had a lot on her plate, and I was not going to be the one to add some more.

Ella looked over at what I was wearing, still looking and sounding a little upset. "Umm, do you have nothing to change into, because that's kind of awkward to walk around in all the time…"

I looked down at my dress, which I had completely forgotten that I was wearing in all of the running around. "Hmm, that's a bit problematic," I muttered under my breath. I called out, "Be right back!"

I ran out the house, got out the duffle bag filled with clothes, and got out a pair of camouflage green capris, a purple- striped long- sleeve V- neck shirt, and a black cropped leather hoodie. Alice had bought me the top part of the outfit, seeing that I was going to love it, but Leah and I had pretty much take a pair of scissors to the jeans and just had a party.

I walked back into the house. "Umm, can I use your bathroom? I need to change." Dr. Martinez pointed down the hallway, and I rushed in and out of there, changing in about 10 seconds.

I tugged down my shirt and walked out of the bathroom, scooping up Kami into my arms at the same time and blowing a raspberry on her stomach. "Ok, so, Dr. M? Leah, Seth and I are going to go back and work on smoothing out any wrinkles in the planned disappearance of Max, Fang and the gang, but I know that Seth won't want to be away from Ella for that long. Is it ok if sometimes he just pops by? Being newly imprinted means the bond is brand new and super hard to control."

Dr. Martinez nodded, a small smile on her face. "It's fine. And thank you for considering me in your decision." I smiled and nodded back at her, simultaneously wondering how the hell she hadn't just had a baby from the shock by now.

We said our good-byes, Kami hugging both Dr. Martinez and her stomach separately to differentiate between the three people there, and we piled into the car. Leah started the engine, and we pulled away, Seth and Kami both looking back and waving, Seth looking significantly sadder than Kami did.

* * *

_**-1 and a Quarter Days Later-**_

"Thanks Leah," I said, jumping out of the car and slamming the door shut. She rolled down the window. "What's going on here?"

I rolled my eyes. "This is my dance class. This is why I come home late every Tuesday and Thursday. Bye now! I'll see you when I get home." I left before Leah could ask another question, adjusting the duffle bag over my shoulder since I needed to change again. I walked across the parking lot, only getting half way across before Shayna attacked me. "WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!"

I blinked twice. "Umm… hi?"

Ian came by next. "Don't mind her. We just thought that you had been murdered and left in a ditch." _Ok…_

I hugged back Shayna and walked arm in arm with her in front of the guys. "I got sick after the dance with some sort of bug, so I had to stay home for a few days. In those few days, I heard that my best friend was moving away _again_ along with the rest of my family because their mom wanted them closer to her since she's pregnant. So I really didn't want to roll out of bed today, but I did especially for you guys. So let's go so that I can go home and wallow in my misery."

* * *

_**-After Dance Class-**_

"Now who cares if you disagree? You are not me," Shayna sang as we danced out of the studio. Tyrell led her in a tango, and Ian spun me once, lifting me into the air so that I could wrap my legs around his waist for the slow dip. "Who made you king of anything? " We sang the rest of the chorus together, doing a whole bunch of random spins and dance moves while the guys clapped in time to the music. I couldn't help but laugh, and did that crazy, really close, fast spin with Shayna that made me feel like a tornado. Then we broke off into random slower movements, sort of mixing hip hop, jazz and ballet all together. I did a little pirouette.

Finally, we all got to the car and piled in, blasting our music at the top of the volume. Ian started making his way to my house, and I laughed along with Shayna, sticking my feet onto the dashboard and dancing in my seat. By the time that we had rolled up to the front door of the house, I was pretty sure that every vampire within a 50 mile radius had heard us driving by.

I hopped out, grabbed my duffel bag and ran into the house. I locked the door, dropped my bag at the door and ran out the back door, making sure that I closed it behind me. On the way to the Martinez house, I stopped and ate two deer, trying to stall for the complete blank future that was heading my way. I had no idea what was supposed to be happening right about now, and it killed me. I _hate _surprises.

Out of the corner of my vision, I heard someone come running, and then I heard them lunge. I leapt straight up in the air and over the mystery person's hair. Quickly, I landed on their back, but the person spun around once and threw me off. Once they had turned back around and I saw their face, I stopped short, my mind completely blank. I didn't know what to do: whether to slap the kid or hug them like no tomorrow.

So I lunged at Skye with a smile on my face. "YOU'RE ALIVE!"

About a mile away, I heard Emmett say, "Well, one of them can obviously track. And she's ok. OH, and Valerie's here! VAL! COME WAKE UP FANG WITH YOUR MAGIC POWERS! I WANT TO MEET HIM!"

* * *

**_MWAHAHA! I bet you thought it was Demon. BUT YOU WERE WRONG! And I am writing this under the guise that I am doing a history paper. OOOH! Stealthy!..._**

**_Now review, my minions! I want to get to 335 reviews by the time that I update the next chapter. PWEEEEEASE? THANK YOU!_**

**_Peace, love, and "FRIENDLY MUSHROOM!",_**

**_Skittles31_**


	44. niaga rehtegot ytpmuH tup tn'dlouC

_**HIYOOOOO! From the Z-100 morning show. Ok, so WAZZUP EVERYBODY? I'm alive, kicking, slightly upset, but mostly just pretty good. This chapter post was what I wanted to get done yesterday, and I guess I could say that it was in honor of my friend Marina's birthday. She had turned 16, so happy belated birthday to her!**_

_**I needed something to get my spirits up from earlier yesterday when I was helping to feed the homeless as a part of my school's Community Service Day, so I sat down and finished typing up the rest of this chapter. I hope you're all happy with this!**_

_**So a few things to know before the chapter begins: I always imagined Fang as being part Raven and Max the peregrine falcon. I pictured Val in my head with reddish-brown wings with white streaks near the primary feathers, and Demon's wings were all black like his brother, so he was raven too. So I found out that Valerie's wings describe the Seychelles kestrel bird perfectly, and jumped for joy when I found out that the descriptions for my story actually worked. So Demon and Fang are ravens, Val's a Seychelles kestrel, and Max is the Peregrine Falcon. Just keep that in mind as you read. It helps.**_

_**Also, flipping the title of this chapter around helps, too. Just saying. :)**_

_**So, DISCLAIMER: Lies.**_

__

**And now, ON WITH THE STORY! **

* * *

_**-Jasper POV-**_

So Emmett and I had somehow managed to lose the first bird kid in the history of anyone. Emmett wanted to celebrate; I just wanted to get the kid back before something bad happened like stuff always seems to, like Valerie coming back and seeing that one person was missing. Yeah, that'd go over like a ton of freaking bricks…

And of course, immediately after I said that, I heard Valerie's footfalls around 2 miles away, as well as the other girl's. Oh, that's just great: another 10+ names and sets of internal rules to learn… It sounded like she had heard her before we did and was trying to get her to turn away. But then, everything got really quiet- save for the 12 other bird children who were lying in front of Emmett and I on the floor still going through their transformations- and we heard, "YOU'RE ALIVE!" I let out a huge sigh, and Emmett grinned like the crazy person that he is. "Well, one of them can obviously track. And she's ok. OH, and Valerie's here! VAL! COME WAKE UP FANG WITH YOUR MAGIC POWERS! I WANT TO MEET HIM!"

I heard her chuckle, and then I heard the other girl go, "You have so much explaining to do, I would actually advise you to run away before everyone else woke up."

Val chuckled, and I heard her start walking in the direction of the house, with the other girl behind her. In about 30 seconds, they got back to the front door, Val in front slightly and the other girl looking at us both curiously, and not like she was about to bolt from the room as soon as she saw us again.

"So, guys, this is Skye. She's my second- in- command. And that's as much as I'm gonna tell you." Val said, walking past us and into the living room, where there were a whole bunch of semi-conscious bodies sprawled out all over the place, as well as a few more dispersed throughout the house. Val crouched down beside the body of the African American girl with her hair in braids, saying, "You should be done really soon, girl. Just hang in there."

She was silent for a few more seconds. "Yes, it's me. Who the hell else would it be?" Another pause, then the sarcasm. "Yes, because I'm sure that the first voice you'd hear when you died would be mine, since I'm the _epitome_ of good." Pause. "Oh, shut up. No, he doesn't." Pause, and a smirk. "Well, we'll just have to ask him. And how much do you want to bet that he'll side with me on this?" Pause, and the smile disappeared. "I don't like the way that thought process is going. So now I'm shutting you up." Then, Val reached out and shoved the girl onto the floor. Her eyes flew open immediately, and I realized that all these people were magically already vegetarian vamps. I felt a twinge of envy, that these two could just get bitten and then immediately become pre- programmed for living off of animals, while I was still struggling a bit with my relatively new diet. It didn't seem fair to me, but it wasn't like I could do anything about it.

The girl on the floor leapt up, and jumped on Valerie. "I MADE IT! ZOMFG, I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT I MADE IT! There was all this burning, and bad things were happening from the first time that Demon came home and I wasn't sure whether or not I was going to die because of all the Erasers and I wasn't in the best condition but I MADE IT!" I watched in complete awe as this girl gave Alice a run for her money just by opening her mouth. Even with vampire hearing, this kid's talking had almost blended into an indecipherable blur of sound, and I had to strain to keep up. **What did Val just *unleash*?**

Val looked down at the person hanging off of her body and said, "Honestly, I can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing yet."

Emmett, who had been silent for the duration of the conversation, suddenly lit up with glee, and I unconsciously made everyone a little bit happier. "Val, is that…?"

Val's eyes snapped to meet Emmett's and I felt her anger rise exponentially. I sent out a wave of calm in her direction. "Killing Emmett won't make you any greater in Rose's opinion."

She sent me an exasperated look, but I quieted her with a threatening stare, and she sighed, rolled her eyes, and dropped the girl she was holding. She walked over to "Max" and sat on her chest. "Yo, Maxi? The Red Haired Wonder's here. I just thought you'd like to hear that she's in the kitchen, baking chocolate chip cookies for Fang." It took 3 seconds, and then Max threw Val onto the floor and, consequently, onto Nick. Max shot up, looking around frantically. Then, seeming to realize that there was no so- called "Red Haired Wonder", she looked down menacingly at Valerie, who grinned up at her from sitting cross- legged on Nick. "One day, I'm going to rip you apart and scatter you across the Earth. And there will be nothing that you can do to stop me, except try to play Marco Polo with yourself."

Val grinned up at Max, then proceeded to bounce on Fang's chest. "Fang! I found the way to Narnia! You have to help me get there! We're going on an adventure, Fnicky!"

Fang's body lost its tenseness, and then he threw Val off his body. "Max, the motormouth got into the sugar again…" Then he opened his eyes, looked at who he had thrown, and said, "Whoops. False alarm."

Max, Valerie and Skye all started to chuckle, while the one conscious new girl vampire whose name I didn't know crossed her arms and pouted. "Not ok, Val! I don't sound like that!"

Val got up off the floor, brushed off her shirt, and then gave Fang a hand, pulling him up from off the floor. He blinked a few times, really looked at Val, and then, calmly went, "What the shit?"

Val smiled, then turned back to look at the apparent next person in the order, whom would be the tallest kid out of the entire group, Jeff. Sure enough, he popped up like a daisy from up off the floor, and after that, it was just one person after the other, until finally, even Demon, with some silent desperation from Valerie, who had taken to sitting on the edge of the bed that Demon was lying on, opened one eye, then the other. He blinked twice, bolted upright, then looked around. "What the hell…?"

Val was sitting there, looking at him like he'd just risen from the dead. **Well…** And then, before Demon could even get his bearings, Val launched at him, succeeding in slamming him up against the head rest of the bed and causing a small crack in the wall. Demon looked and felt completely stunned, and the only explanation that Val gave him on the topic of why she had just tried to slam him was, "You, my dear friend, are an idiot."

She continued her monologue, fist poised above Demon's face. "You neglected to tell me that you were in the process of dying when you left me that day that I accepted Ian's offer to go to the dance. I knew that something smelled off about you, and you looked horrendous, and you were too hot, not even regular hot. You arse-face, if you ever tell me that you're fine again when you're really in the process of dying, I will certainly kick your tall, skinny ass from here to South Park. Got it?"

Demon, who seemed to be in some sort of Valerie- induced trance with a mixture of bliss and shock, nodded his head absently. Immediately, Valerie dropped her fist as well as her body, just laying on top of Demon's still sort of shocked body in a half hug with her arms flung out to the sides. Her voice was muffled by his shirt, but I heard it just the same. "I'm glad you're ok."

Demon looked down at her face, and something sort of clicked with his emotions: first there was a bit of shock, then there was some denial, then there was worry, then something like happiness spread through him like wildfire, and I had a hard time not projecting it across the entire room. He smiled down at her, readjusted himself to rest more comfortably against the head board, then started to stroke Val's hair. "Yeah, nice to see you, Val."

Val looked up, resting her head on his chest, and then smiled brightly. "Yeah, just stop having near death experiences like your brother. I can't handle all that crap." I could literally feel her body start to twist with nervousness, but I wasn't sure exactly what she was nervous about. Oh, and then there was the contentedness. I wasn't sure what to make of any of these two's emotions, but I was pretty sure that if I got Edward to come over, he could help me out.

After staring at each other for a few seconds, Val leapt up from the bed, pulling Demon with her by the hand. She dragged him into the living room and then she plopped down in front of Max's legs. Max was doing her best to keep her embarrassment to a minimum, since Fang hadn't stopped staring at her since he had finished the change, even though he was sitting across the room. And she couldn't stop looking at him sideways either. I smiled. **Ah, the beauty of the new found gorgeous-ness and amazing eyesight of vampires. **I could already tell this was going to go over incredibly well when they realized that they were in love with each other.

Val's head snapped over to mine, and she grinned widely. _Welcome to the fan club. Sadly, we do not have motorcycle jackets._

Then the tallest kid in the room blurted out to Valerie, "Ok. Does someone want to tell me what happened? And why the hell I feel like I have freaking strep throat?"

I blinked twice, then looked at Valerie, who seemed as though this was completely normal behavior to witness. I cringed. **This is the extended family that I'm going to have to put up with for forever or until someone moves out. I'm going to be committed if they all end up like Valerie.**

Emmett had been sitting quietly in the corner, marinating in his own glee. Finally, Valerie looked at him, and I guess that was some sort of signal, because Val suddenly got very annoyed and resigned as Emmett jumped up, no longer able to contain himself.

"Can I say how awesome it is to finally meet the Flock?" And then, as Valerie would say, shit hit the wind turbines.

**There goes any hope of dealing with this calmly and without yelling.**

* * *

_**-2 Weeks Later-**_

_**-Max POV-**_

_**This is really weird.**_ _That could be an understatement._** I am completely ashamed of the both of you for being unable to see the loveliness of this situation! I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU!** _S__**hut up Nudge!**_

Nudge, Val, Skye and I were up in a tree. The reasons for our being up in a tree varied. Val and I needed to get as far away from the house as was vampire-ly possible because strange things were going to happen if we were in the same closed environment for much longer. Skye needed to get out because if she didn't she figured that she'd end up permanently attached to Blaze by the lips, or something along those lines. Nudge just saw us all leaving and decided she'd come and see what's wrong, like a good sister. But then she found out she wasn't going to hear what was wrong, and I wanted to kick her sorry ass for even suggesting that it was a good thing to say the problem out loud.

"Ok, so why are we out here, guys?" Skye said, pulling herself farther up into the tree. I climbed up past her, lying out across the branch in front of her and letting one arm hang in the air. "I mean, I know why I'm out here, but why are all of you here?"

I looked over at Val, who was pointedly not looking at any of us, lying on her back to stare up at the sky with a foot hanging over the branch. "I don't like enclosed spaces," I finally said, taking the plunge.

Val made a grunting sound of approval, and I shut up. There was no freaking way that I was ever going to say anything else to any of the people in this tree. No matter how far away we were from the house.

"Oh, come ooooooonnnnnn," Nudge whined, pouting a bit and crossing her arms. "You two haven't been up to par for 2 weeks now. You're all stiff, and you need to tell me so that I can fix it like the good sister that I am."

I rolled my eyes. "Nudge, nothing you can say—"

Val took over. "Can make this better. So shut up, and go back to happy couple town with Igs."

Skye then took a blind stab at it, and that was when I knew something had to be terribly wrong. She never butts in to people's business. If she did, we'd throw her over some cliff edge with a metal band wrapped around her waist, claiming her to be an Itex spy. "Guys, we're worried. You two just haven't been yourselves lately, and it's throwing the entire house for a loop."

I kept my mouth shut, because any way that I phrased the problem, it was going to sound crazy. So Val went for me instead. "I'm not liking the vamp change so much anymore. It does weird things to my body."

I nodded along. "I'm with her."

Skye furrowed her eyebrows, and Nudge looked exasperated. "BUT WHY? AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN WEIRD THINGS?" I covered my ears for a while, because _obviously_ Nudge forgot that our ears had gotten a lot stronger since the transformation.

I shrugged, not wanting to get into the discussion because I could almost feel my face heating up like it used to when I got embarrassed. I turned away, just in case the blush decided it wanted to make a special guest appearance.

Skye was a lot subtler in her approach, and I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. "Funny things to your body how?"

I kept my eyes permanently fixated on the bush that was sitting directly below the tree across from us. "_Funny things._"

Skye tried again. "Guys, come on. We can't help if we have no idea what's going on wit—"

Val blurted out, "I started singing to him. On purpose. And I didn't even mean to."

I whipped my eyes to meet Val's, who looked as though she would be bright tomato red if she were able. "We did some crazy flight pattern crap, ending in some near death dive that we barely pulled out of. While playing catch."

Some of the tension in Val's shoulders left, and she let out a little sigh. "His voice sounds really good. We had the dance he promised finally, and he sang along to "Black Mamba". And then he helped me with my wings."

I closed my eyes. "He shared the 'Gatorade'."

I felt Val's eyes on me. "And…"

I nodded. "Yeah. Me too." _**It really sucks having amazing eyesight and knowing what type of bird you come from. Stupid gorgeous people…**_

Nudge and Skye looked between us like we had no sense, and then Nudge came out with, "What the front door was that? All I got was that you two are in the same damn boat."

Skye, after looking at the both of us, looked as though something had gone off in her head. She looked like she was about to say something, but then Jasper came running through the forest under us, stopping at our tree. He looked terrified, and that was when I knew something bad was happening, since Jasper, in all of the time that I'd known him (since the beginning of the school year, about), had never looked downright scared. Defensive and ready to plan some sort of counter- attack, yes. Looking like he had no idea what the hell he was supposed to do, never.

"Oh, crap. This is bad." Nudge said under her breath, and we all jumped out of the tree, running behind Jasper back to the house. There was going to be a meeting called, we could tell.

Sure enough, we got back to the house, and Alice was sitting in front of the fireplace and rocking herself slowly back and forth, cursing and half-sobbing at the same time. Jasper immediately took a seat by her side, and forced calm onto her.

_**Gotta be honest, that still freaks the crap out of me, to force someone to feel something… Maybe that's what was happening! Note to self: kick Jasper's butt later.**_

Carlisle stood beside the mantle thingy, looking very much like the leader of this completely dysfunctional, exceedingly large family. His face was grave, and there wasn't a single bit of hope that was helping him to stand. It was all pure will power.

"We've got a major problem," He started, and I saw my winged family all roll their eyes in unison and mouth, "No shit, Sherlock". I resisted the urge to laugh, because even though it was funny watching everyone with the same reaction, I knew that everyone was just as terrified as to what the flip was going on and just using the indifference to cover it up as best they could.

Carlisle ran a hand through his hair once, and I wondered if that was where Edward had gotten the habit from. He pulled the hand down his face, and then I realized that this was so much more serious than anything we had ever been through. "The Volturi want us dead. They've been spying on us for the past few months, and now they want us dead."

The room was dead silent, except for the few beating hearts we had among us. And then, in the midst of the quiet panicking, Iggy went, "Shiiiiit." I didn't even bother berating him on language; I was too busy mentally panicking. I heard a sniffle from Kami, and I wasn't sure how we were going to get her out of this mess. _**Oh, crap. This is such a bad situation…**_

Carlisle went on, and I tried my best to pay attention. "Aro's upset that we added 14 to our count. There's nothing that we can do to convince him that we're not making an army; he's dead set on his decision. The guard will be coming next week, and according to Alice's vision, that's where we…" Carlisle couldn't finish the statement, and I was thankful that he had stopped himself before Angel completely broke down on my shoulder. Fang edged himself closer to me, and I grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

Emmett, always smiling no matter what happened, had a look on his face of desperation, sorrow, and fear. _**Oh my gosh. This is really happening.**_

Mira, after looking around the room once, stood straight up, running into the bedroom where most of our crap was. I heard ruffling noises in the bedroom, and Shawn followed after her. When he opened the door, a shirt flew at him at top speed, and I realized exactly what Mira was trying to do.

About 2 minutes later, she walked out, a duffle bag over her shoulder filled with a whole bunch of clothes. I looked at her and nodded, and she gave each of us the same old "back to basics" look. One by one, we each got up, packed all of our crap together in the worn out, same old backpacks that had been splattered in blood and sweat. It was time for us to move. Again.

20 minutes later, our flocks met back in the living room, all of us looking like we had about a year ago, nix the new supermodel-like bodies. We formed a large cluster of people, and I stepped back up to leader position.

"So who's going with who? And think about it, since it'll be obvious who they think will go with who," I said, adjusting Angel's zipper on her backpack. She sent me a small mental thank you, and I absently patted her head.

Out of all the people that I was expecting to speak up next, I was not expecting Skye. "Val and I will go together alone. They would expect her to go with either Demon or you, Max, so we'll be something they didn't see coming." I nodded, and Val sent Skye a questioning look that she waved off, keeping focused on the conversation.

Angel spoke out next. "Can I go with Iggy, then?" Iggy smiled tight-lipped, and went to step over beside Angel.

Nudge kept her message short. "I'll go with Demon." Demon nodded his head, but kept close to Valerie.

Jinx, serious for the second time that I could remember, said, "I'll go with Gazzy. No one will see that coming."

Fang looked at the remaining people unpaired. "Blaze?" Blaze didn't say anything, but his mouth twitched a bit on the side, and I took that as a yes.

"Max, do you want to pair up with me?" Mira asked me, and I nodded, giving her a small smile. "No problem. Except for the obvious one."

Hope looked at Shawn silently, and he nodded. "So we're the last group," she said, her voice more subdued than usual.

I nodded, trying to swallow the lump in my throat. "So that's that. We should start heading out in about an hour. Nudge, you want to work on getting the right files out of the school not to raise suspicion about the McCarthys?" I didn't wait for her to give me an answer, knowing that she was already pulling out the laptop. Valerie dropped her bag on the floor, and said, "I have to say a decent good-bye, otherwise there will be some suspicion." Without another word to anyone, she raced out of the house and probably into town to say bye to Ian, Shayna, and Tyrell.

The McCarthys were standing around, looking at us all like we were insane. Which, I suppose, was a legitimate concern to anyone who wasn't us. Esme was first to speak up. "Where will all of you go?"

I looked at everyone, and we all collectively shrugged. "We're just going to scatter. It'll make it harder for them to find us all and rip us to shreds."

Rosalie (who I really wasn't sure if I liked or not) was looking a little skeptical as to how well the plan would work. "So how do you plan on staying in touch with each other?"

Everyone's eyes whipped to mine, and I couldn't help but sigh. "Since they're going to be looking very closely at how we're interacting with each other in any way, we're going to have to sever all connections and hope for the best."

Rosalie looked appalled. "But then how the hell will you know that someone isn't dead?"

I averted my eyes. "We won't for sure. We'll probably feel something like a sixth sense, but that's about it. We won't know for certain until we all possibly meet up again."

Rosalie was infuriated, and I was getting kind of ticked at her for not letting the plan be. "But that's such a stupid pla—"

I snarled and snapped. "Listen, Blondie. I just learned that apparently, I was handed a second life, just to die within the freaking month. I've been a fugitive before, and I turned out completely fine. I'm not about to sit around here and just wait for them to kill me. I'm going to at least try to escape death, got it? If you want to get a free pass up to the big guy's house, then you go right ahead. Right now, I've got some living to do."

I turned around and walked out of the living room, into the girls' joint room to make sure that we had everything and that there were no traces of us being here in the first place.

Nudge, after 10 more minutes, shut the laptop, quietly murmuring, "Done." I half- smiled in relief, sitting down on the edge of the couch and trying not to add to the pacing party that Skye and Mira were having.

2 minutes later, Valerie came back through the door, looking upset after dropping off the farewell letters but walking right up to Demon and asking below Kami's hearing level, "What happens with Kami?"

I thanked all the good dead people that I knew for giving Valerie a good head on her shoulders and the ability to think logically in times of crisis.

Demon sighed deeply, and I could tell he was trying to think of his options as well. "The Refs?"

Val's brow furrowed and her eyes unfocused, a sure sign that she was trying to figure out a game plan in the midst of all the impulsive madness that was flying around the room. And from the slight decrease in tempo as she tapped her leg in some unknown rhythm, I think that something good was going to happen. "Skye and I take her, since I know where they're supposed to be?"

Demon nodded, and something tightened in his face. "Tell them that we don't—"

Val continued for him. "—know when we'll be back, so—"

Demon finished. "—tell them to take super good care of her and treat her like their own."

Val came out of her daydream, and both her head and Demon's head whipped over to look at Kami, who was staring unblinkingly at the both of them. Val picked up Kami and slung her on her hip, and Demon played absentmindedly with Kami's fingers.

"Sweetheart, remember Aunt Gina?" Valerie started softly, and Kami wrapped her arms around both of Val and Demon's necks. I could smell the saltwater from where I was standing across the room, and I looked away from the obvious first goodbye that was being said.

"Does this mean that I can't be with you guys anymore?" Kami's voice asked shakily as she tried to be brave for her parents.

Val was mysteriously silent, and Demon was the only one who spoke. "Sweetie, Mommy and Daddy have dangerous jobs, ok? And we would never want to put you in any danger at all. So while we're taking care of something super important and dangerous, we have to send you to a safe place where people love you and they'll take care of you and protect you from any bad people, ok? So until we fix this problem, then you have to stay with Aunt Gina and the rest of the family. Right after that, we'll come back and love you _so_ much more than we usually do to make up for all the time we lost, ok? But neither of us wants you to get hurt, since you're our **only** daughter. Especially me; I have my two favorite girls to look after, and I don't know what I'd do if I lost one of you." Demon opened the conversation back up to both Valerie and Kami, and I heard Val push her face into Demon's sweatshirt, hugging him with one hand and holding Kami to her with the other.

Val's voice came out muffled, but still pretty clearly. "I don't want to lose you two, either. And Demon, stop making my eyes feel weird."

I turned back finally as Demon wrapped his arms around everything he was living for and Mira took the final picture of us before we isolated ourselves from everyone and hoped that we survived this time. I mean, yeah, I'm freaking Maximum Ride, and everything. But these were vampires. New ground to cover.

I wasn't sure if we were gonna make it out of this one unscathed.

* * *

_**So, this is where I needed to get these crazy kids to before I could really keep going with the story. I know that some of the reviews from the last chapter were saying how they wanted more action and the Volturi to come into play; well, here you go. And now you know some of the reasoning for all those chapters with Katherine the random Volturi agent's point of view. There's still more, but that's some of it. And on a nice note, it's safe to say that we have reached the halfway point of this story, From here, things really come together in obvious ways, and you see reason in places where you thought that I was just being a crazy person.**_

_**So REVIEW! And now I have to actually go to bed. This sort of sucks. Poo.**_

_**Peace, love, and, "Mr. Bikk is sort of like some sort of…. WOODLAND CREATURE!",**_

_**Skittles31, who recently realized that Lee Jordan IS her twin brother lost at birth. SHVEET!**_


	45. I'll never let this go, except I did

_**HIYOOOOO! GUESS WHO'S 15 TODAY? YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT! MEEE!**_

_**So, because today is a day to do whatever I want, I wrote the remainder of this chapter. It is sad, it will cause people to throw cyber stuff at me, but I really hope you like it. The entire thing is Skye's point of view. And it got to be fun by the middle part. You'll see why I say that. Just remember what Skye can do, and you should be fine.**_

_**Oh, and this needs to be said:**_

_**"You treat me just like another stranger. Well it's nice to meet you sir. I guess I'll go. I'll just be on my way out."- Ignorance (Part 2)**_

_**"Sometimes goodbye is a second chance."- Second Chance (Part 1)**_

_**"How did we get here when I used to know you so well?"- Decode (Part 2)**_

_**The songs help. That's all I can say.**_

_**DISCLAIMER: May or may not be being shipped to me with the cardboard Rupert Grint cut out. Will see what happens with that, although I have a strong feeling that that's not gonna happen. (The rights to the books, not the Rupert Grint cut out.)**_

__

**And now, ON WITH THE STORY!**

* * *

_**-Skye POV—**_

"So, is this it?"

Angel's voice carried in the now- empty living room. We were all standing in an abstract circle, looking completely horror-stricken by the idea of us leaving each other and possibly never seeing each other again. I clutched Blaze's hand tighter, and he wrapped an arm around my shoulder to try and comfort me.

It didn't work.

I looked over at Valerie and Max. Valerie was curled up on the floor next to the fireplace, one knee up and her arms curled around it, tapping out some insanely fast rhythm with her fingers. Max was pressing the soles of her feet together and anxiously drumming her fingers on her knees. Both of their eyes were unfocused, and I knew that they were both off in their respective little worlds.

"I guess so," Emmett said quietly, still looking completely shell- shocked. I don't think that everything had completely processed yet for him, that we were literally on the run. We had transferred everything that we owned into the Martinezes bank account, splitting it between Ella's account and Dr. Martinez's herself. Seth was planning on moving all the furniture to some safe place, and other than that, we were completely ready to go.

On the outside, anyway.

Fang crouched down and put a hand on Max's shoulder, and her head snapped up. They stared at each other for a few more seconds, and then she grabbed his outstretched hands. Val jumped a bit at the sudden movement, but she stayed on the floor and her eyes unfocused again in the next few seconds. Demon sat down beside her, wrapped an arm around her, and leaned her under his chin against his chest. Val, from what I could see, stiffened, but with a couple of seconds of back massage, Val was almost purring. They looked so normal at that moment that I just wanted to go and get a flame thrower and go after the Volturi for ruining my entire life.

Although knowing me, I'd probably get lost halfway on my rampage.

Blaze pulled me closer to him, and I reached up and kissed under his chin, right at his jaw. Blaze tensed, and then almost too fast for me to comprehend, he pulled me fully into his arms and just held me. I sniffled, and I felt Blaze nuzzle my hair.

"I don't want to lose you," he said, and my throat closed up against my will. I looked up at him, dry-sobbing even harder once I saw the face that I'd grown to love more than my own life. "I don't want to lose you either."

All around the room now, I heard shuffling, sniffling, and some uneasy breathing. Mira, who hates it when she cries, muttered under her breath, "Gee, thanks Skye. Now we're all going to be a blubbering, tearful mess."

I let out another sob, and my wings stretched out of their own accord. I had no idea what the hell they were doing, but it felt nice.

My wings stretched out and I wrapped them sort of awkwardly around Blaze, meeting him halfway when his wings came around to cover mine as well. I sniffled again, and I just stopped breathing since my entire throat had become blocked up with tears that I could never cry.

After 2 minutes of sob fest, we all managed to pull ourselves together, finally making the final journey out of the house. We got to the front lawn, and all of us turned around. Kami let out a small whimper, and Val wrapped Kami's arms around her neck, trying to console her. Kami let loose another whimper, and I smelt the saltwater as it began to soak through Val's shirt.

I wasn't going to be able to look at Kami at all until we got back to the Refugees and I had to say good bye. If I did, then I'd be looking at everything through watery eyes.

Jasper turned around and hugged each of us in turn, and I could feel the worry seep into my body like some sort of disease. "Don't die," Jasper whispered in each of our ears. **As if we can think of anything else at this point.**

Soon it turned into an all out hug- fest. Esme was bawling; Carlisle was having trouble keeping up the levels of hope on his own face; Hope and Nudge were silent, only leaning on each other. The only thing that I could chuckle at was when Rose, Valerie, and Max caught each other's eyes. All three of them froze, and no one moved for about a minute.

Then Rose muttered, under her breath, "Stay alive."

Val nodded. "Yeah. Both of you."

One corner of Max's mouth lifted briefly. "Take your own advice."

I could feel some sort of tension lift between all three of them, and they all turned around and walked over to their significant others, looking incredibly uncomfortable and ready to leave.

An aisle was cleared straight down the middle of our family, and everyone looked at the space as though they were expecting it to disappear or the leaves to come to life and tell them that their life wasn't ending.

Mira took a deep breath and stepped into the middle. Spreading her wings a bit and adjusting the backpack, she mouthed to Shawn, "I love you," and then took off. She hovered in the air, looking back and waiting for Max to spread her wings.

Max took a look at Fang, and reached out, squeezing his hand. "If you dare die while I'm not with you, I will personally come find your ghost and kick its ass from here to the end of the earth. Don't think that because I'm not there to look after you that it's all right for you to kick the bucket."

Fang's face twitched, like he was holding back some sort of a laugh, and he lifted Max's and his clasped hands, staring at them before looking Max dead in the eye and saying, "Keep breathing, kay?"

Max turned away and nodded, finally taking those steps into the middle and slowly letting go of Fang's hand. He gave her one last squeeze before their hands dropped, and immediately Max did a running start and took off. She leveled out with Mira, and then both of them turned, waved, and flew away into the clouds without another word. A few wing- flaps later, I heard two very different and distinct sniffles, a rustling of clothing, and then a dull thud. I looked up from where I was staring at the ground, and I couldn't see either of them any more. **Bye Max. Bye Mira…**

It was quiet and still, then Fang- **Please, no. Not now! I'm not ready for him to leave yet!**- got up enough nerve to walk into the middle, sending me an apologetic look from where he was now standing. Blaze looked calmly at my horror- struck face, his eyes burning with both anger and sadness.

I couldn't help myself: I tackled Fang.

"WHY DID YOU HAVE TO GO NEXT? YOU COULDN'T HAVE WAITED!" I threw some wild punches at his torso, and I have to say that it felt good to be able to explode like that. Now I understood why Valerie did that all the time. "Why did you take him so soon?" I started to cry again- **Jeez, I need to work on how to turn off my tear glands…**- and Fang gently pulled me off of him, hugging me. He didn't say it, but I could feel him saying "I'm sorry". I'd learned to read body language, since none of us liked to talk about our feelings that often.

Fang pushed me away slowly, and guided me into Blaze's arms. I wrapped my arms around him one last time, and tried to stop being such a crybaby.

After a few moments, I pulled away and walked over to Valerie, who let me lean against her as I waved to Blaze one last time before he and Fang took off. "Bye." The last thing that I heard before Blaze took off and left me behind for some unknown amount of time. **Feck this. I hate my life. I hate that the last word that I hear from my boyfriend before he leaves me is "Bye". I hate that the Volturi just came barging in here like the paranoid people they are and **_**ruined my fricking life!**_

Valerie patted my shoulder, and I automatically apologized to her for screaming. She kept her eyes fixed on the ground in front of her, and I gave up. This was what I was going to have to deal with after we went underground. I couldn't say that I was going to be any better, but I was having a jolly old time pretending that I wasn't about to burst out into hysterical tears once again immediately after I got out of this clearing.

Angel hugged Gazzy- **Oh no.**- and stepped into the middle. Iggy looked at Nudge, who simply said, "Go." Iggy looked super torn up, but before he could get too tangled in his thoughts, Nudge pulled him in for one long kiss full of a lot of feelings. **I can only imagine what Jasper's going through while this happens...**

When they finally broke apart, Nudge pushed Iggy into the middle of the aisle, muttering under her breath about how he needed to go, but not die because if he died then she didn't know what she'd do with herself. One of the things I loved about Nudge was that she was the only one in touch with her emotions to the extent that a normal person wouldn't know what the frick she'd been through. And she had a tendency to rant them out to anyone within earshot. She was openly honest, and I loved her even more for it.

Too bad that in a few minutes, I was going to be separated from her for God-knows-how-long.

Iggy pecked her one more time on the cheek, and then, before he got really into it and practically surgically attached himself to Nudge at the lips, he turned around and took off, Angel following behind him. They waved, attempted a smile, and then flew off in the opposite direction of town. **Maybe they're going back to America. Who knows?**

…**Oh, yes! That's right! *I* don't! In fact, *no one* does!**

Nudge looked up at the sky where Iggy had gone for a few seconds, and then she stepped into the pathway. I heard Demon sigh at the same time that Kami whispered "Daddy…" and Val inhaled through her teeth with a hiss.

Nudge said quietly, "Sorry, Val." Valerie looked as though she had just been blind-sided by something large, vampire- proof, and super spontaneously bad. Kami, who had been put down and was standing beside Val holding her hand, walked over to her father and wrapped her arms around his legs. "Please don't get hurt…," she whispered, and Demon blinked twice, looking down at his daughter with so much pain in his eyes that I had to look away. Valerie was still looking shell-shocked.

Demon got down on one knee and squeezed her. He planted little butterfly kisses all over Kami's face, with muttered 'I love you's in between every few kisses. He leaned back, looking Kami in the eyes. "I promise you that I will try to be safe, ok? And I promise that if I ever get hurt, I'll come and find you immediately, ok? Because I know that I'll get better whenever I see you smile, ok?" Kami nodded mutely, looking as though she were inspecting his eyes for the truth.

"And sweetheart? Don't worry about me. I'll be fine, okay? Just listen to your aunts and uncles and smile for me, ok? Just think of me, and smile, okay? Can you do that?" Demon was evolving into the perfect dad, and Kami gave him a watery smile, which was the best that she could do at the moment. Esme kept muttering, "Poor baby," to herself beside Carlisle. Demon gave her back a smile that was just as shaky and hugged Kami close again, saying, "That's my girl."

Demon squeezed her and rocked her for a few seconds, and then he stood up, his eyes now fixated on Valerie, who seemed to be doing everything in her power beside me to not look at Demon. "One of them, anyway," Demon trailed off lower, so that only the vampires could hear.

Valerie's neck tendons began to stick out with the effort she was making not to look in his direction, and Kami unraveled herself from around her Dad's legs and in his arms to walk over to her mother and grab her hand, pulling her silently over to her dad. I gave Val a little push, and she started to walk towards where Demon was standing, drilling holes in her head. Kami stopped pulling about a foot from Demon, and she laced their fingers together. Val's other arm wrapped around her middle.

Demon looked down at Val. "You know I'm gonna miss you, right?"

Val snorted, and I saw a small smile on her face grace the ground. "You're gonna miss me bossing you around all the time?" Her voice sounded hollow.

Demon half smiled, and that sorrowful look that made me want to yell at Val to hug him and never let go was coming back. "It's better than not hearing your voice at all."

Val attempted to pull back the hand Demon was holding and come back to my side. Demon wouldn't have any of it. "Come on, V. At least tell me you're gonna miss me."

His other hand, the one that wasn't holding Val in place, crept up her other arm and to her chin. He lifted up her chin gently, and Valerie suddenly had a flash memory of the two of them in this same position, except that Demon had stubble, there were two kids running around the place that looked identical to both each other _and_ Demon and Valerie, and Val had a huge belly that I guessed was not from any diet of hers. Just as quickly as it came into her head, it went away. Valerie's face, now that we could see it, was very nearly composed, except that she was biting her lip and her breathing was especially shallow. **I *knew* she was trying not to cry…**

Demon looked her deep in the eyes, and this time Val didn't look away. In fact, she did the complete opposite and jumped into his arms, barely giving Demon any warning. She wrapped her arms and legs tight around Demon's body, and the rest of the conversation obviously went mental, since not a sound was heard from either of their mouths.

After a minute or two, Valerie got off of Demon and quietly said, "Be careful, ok? I can't watch your back this time around."

"Yeah. Take care of yourself and Kami, ok?" Demon grasped both of her elbows and practically made her mentally promise. Valerie nodded, and then spur of the moment leaned forward, kissed his cheek, and then turned around ushering Kami back over to my side. She wouldn't look at him again.

Nudge softly said, "Bye, everyone. It's been nice… well, until now. I hope it turns out ok and that if we see each other again, it's on good news." Demon tore his eyes away from Valerie and turned to the rest of us. "See you."

And with those parting words, accompanied by Kami's "I love you, Dad!", they flew into the darkening sky, specks on the horizon in a couple of minutes.

Jinx gave Hope a very longing look, and I felt for him, since he had never gotten to tell Hope that he was just as into her as she was into him. So now, instead of the kiss that I knew that both of them wanted, they left off with a hug, while the rest of us looked on. Gazzy tried to smile at all of us. "Hope this works out well." And with those uncertain parting words, they were off, too.

There were four bird-kids, one child, and 8 full vampires left. I stepped forward and onto the grass stage where all the good- byes seemed to be happening. I looked over at Hope, who was still looking off in Jinx's direction. I hugged her from behind, and she turned around, burying her head in my shoulder. "I'll miss you." "I'll miss you, too."

Val hugged Shawn, who was standing very stiffly and looking uncomfortable with the entire idea of all of us leaving each other. "Shawn, stop worrying. We'll be fine. So will Mira. You think that Max is gonna let anything happen to her?" Val reassured him, and with those words Shawn got some movement back in his limbs. He returned her hug full force, whispering in her ear, "Thank you. And good luck."

Val let him go, coming over to exchange places with me to say good bye to Hope. I hugged Shawn wordlessly, and he stroked my hair. "If you ever figure out that you're in the area, drop by, ok? I don't want to completely lose my family because of this," Shawn whispered, and I nodded silently. **I officially hate the word "if".**

I let go of Shawn and stood on stage again, ready to fly. Val, after saying a quick good bye to Esme and Jasper exclusively, stood beside me, Kami in her arms. I took a deep breath, and started running, opening up my wings and feeling beautifully free and like the world was on my shoulders at the exact same time. With a final over the shoulder wave, I was officially one of a three- soon- to- be- two- person mini- family.

* * *

_**-Time Skip-**_

"Hurry up!" The little blonde girl skipping in front of me called out, and I kept my same pace. There was not a snowball's chance in hell that I was going to listen to some bossy brat who was years younger than I was tell me what to do.

After several turns around corners, a few stairwells, and some long corridors, we finally got to whatever room that she wanted me in. "Make yourself comfortable. The rest are coming soon," she said with a devious smile, closing the door behind her. I let out a low snarl, then frowned. I threw my head into my hands, rubbing my temples and sliding down the wall to sit. **This is all gonna go to shit.**

I shook my head absently, trying to keep my hopes up. **No, it's going to be fine. This worked for this long, it'll keep working out.**

I felt my eyes start to burn, and I screamed, punching the floor beside me and beginning to dry sob at the same time. **Why the frick couldn't it just keep working then? Why did this have to happen!**

By this time, I just started to let completely loose; I screamed at the top of my lungs, stamped my feet and slapped the ground. I threw a tantrum, and it felt _good_.

I slammed my head against the wall behind me, trying to calm myself down. Staring at the pretty designs on the ceiling, I breathed in deeply, making sure that I didn't get worked up again. Slowly, I got back up, still shaking a little. I ignored myself, because having another panic attack wasn't going to freaking help my situation.

I started to pace the length of the room. There were no windows or other doors, just the door I came in through. I kept a steady rhythm in my walking, making sure not to speed up, just keeping my mind as blank as I could and trying not to think of anything.

When I had made the hundredth turn around the room, the door creaked open. I snarled, throwing myself into the most shadowed corner of the room that was farthest from the door, and waited to lunge at whoever was going to walk through the door.

The little girl came skipping in again. She smiled at me evilly, and I snarled at her, my hands curling into fists beside me. Still looking at me like some sort of sadist, she turned her head to call over her shoulder. "Oi, you two. Get in here!"

There was a brief pause, then Iggy and Angel walked in. I nearly dropped to the floor out of shock, and they both stopped as soon as they saw me and the door had closed. I let out a little laugh, taking one step forward, and then I ran the rest of the way to meet the both of them. Iggy was looking completely shocked, and Angel hugged me like no tomorrow. **Which there very well might not be.**

Iggy pulled away a little. "What happened to you?"

I rubbed at Angel's face, still not being able to believe that I was finally seeing them after 3- and- a- half years. I grabbed his hand and held it in mine. "We went away. And then after everything had been going so well, they found me again."

Both Angel and Iggy looked at me like I was missing something important and very bad that had happened. "Where's Valerie?"

Let's just be clear: I hadn't. **There it is. The million-dollar question.** I took a deep breath, trying to keep calm, and looked at both of them. "I don't know."

Iggy looked like he had been socked in the stomach with a tank, and Angel looked like she desperately wanted to believe that she had just misheard me. "Wha—?"

That little evil blonde person came in again, this time followed by Esme and Carlisle. **Oh, thank God. **Esme looked at all three of us and smiled happily. I waved. "Hi, Mom."

She engulfed us all in this giant hug that Carlisle joined almost immediately after us. Just as soon, she pulled back, looking at each of us individually to make sure that nothing had happened and making sure that we looked all right. Carlisle looked us all over, and his frown deepened. He turned to me. "Wasn't Valerie with you?"

Esme stopped dead in front of me, her eyes already getting venom-filled. "Where is she?"

I gulped, and I looked down. My fingers clenched at both sides. "I don't know. She had gone out for something, and I don't know what happened to her… She might be alive, or she might be—"

The door opened again, and this time it was Max and Mira. Both had deep scowls on their face that immediately lifted when they saw us. But they both came right back when they recounted the people in the room and turned to me. "Where is she?" they asked simultaneously. I opened my mouth, and then I was interrupted again.

This time, a boy with dark brown hair and eyes the color of the little blonde pest who had been in the room earlier came in, not saying a word except, "Here." He led in Gazzy and Jinx, and Angel immediately squealed, leaping onto her brother. Gazzy hugged her back, and then after he had been passed around to each of us, said, "Well, I think that that blonde chick who works here hates me."

I couldn't help it, even in the middle of our lives falling apart; I asked Gazzy to explain. "Well, I started to ask her where I was going, and how old she was, and what her name was, and if she ever thought of becoming a vegetarian like us. But she just turned around, glared at me, and then traded me off to that other guy that took us here." Just from the look on Gazzy's face, I could tell that wasn't all he did.

After that, more people came into the room at a faster pace. Demon and Nudge came in, and when I related the entire story about why I was missing a Valerie, Demon's face shut down and he sat in the dark corner of the room like some sort of hermit. Nudge related all of her ideas as to what could have happened to Val to Iggy, and they both looked elated to be talking to the other again.

Next in were Rosalie, Emmett, Blaze, and Fang. Fang was beside Max immediately, her telling him everything that had happened in the course of three and a half years without him, him silently listening and taking note of everything.

I, on the other hand, raced into Blaze's arms and kissed him senseless. "I missed you so much," I whispered in between the kisses, then I had to smile, despite the horrible situation that we were in the middle of.

Blaze kissed my forehead, and I felt it all the way to my toes. He wrapped a wing around me, and I inhaled the smell of licorice, cherries, and lemon. **It's good to be back. **We didn't need to say anything; it was sort of understood and flowing through both of us.

Hope and Shawn were pushed in next, and my claustrophobia started to nudge at the back of my head. Hope attached herself to Jinx, and Shawn and Mira went through a very public display of happiness that the other was safe and not dead. Then Shawn came up for air, looked around and said, "Why did she say that she would be fine and she's not here?"

Bella and Edward came in almost immediately after he said that. "Who's no—where's Valerie?" were Bella's first words.

After I related the tale another time, Alice and Jasper came in, Alice looking a bit frazzled. Jasper said, "We know. She's not here," before any of us could open our mouths, and Alice just started muttering things to herself, about how she had to be wrong and things weren't possible.

Then she snapped her head up and looked at me. "Where's Valerie?"

I opened my mouth to answer her, but then the door swung open for the last time, this time with no one behind it but the two little people who had been taking us to this room for the past hour. The blonde fudge- bag smiled sweetly at us, and I wanted to blast the freaking smile right off her face. My hands twitched at my sides. "Come with us."

She turned around, as did the boy, and they led us out of the room, surrounded by other vampires. I wanted to spread my wings and fly out of here, but I couldn't leave the McCarthys behind. **Stupid self. Learning to care. No, caring is good. Argh, this is bad…**

We traveled through this maze of hallways and small rooms, and I briefly heard the sounds of a crowd of humans, which made no sense to me until I really thought about it. **These people are freaking sick. Did they even stop to think that these people have lives? Families?**

Before I could start clawing everyone's face out left and right, the two kids in front of us opened up one final door which opened into a giant room. Opposite us were three chairs that looked like someone had taken a Bedazzler and had a blast. The one in the middle was the biggest and in the front, with the other two slightly less sparkly and on either side of it. In each of these disco chairs was an old man, with skin so papery looking it looked as though if you blew on them they would just fly away. **Hmm, I wonder…**

The one on the left looked evil, plain and simple. His hair was gelled back in that way that just screamed "Trying too hard to be evil" sort of like that Malfoy kid in Harry Potter, and his mouth was twisted into a sneer. The one in the middle with brown hair also slicked back- **Really? Come on…-** looked curious, almost child-like, and I decided that I wanted him knowing as much about me as I wanted Itex knowing about me. The one on the right looked surprisingly the most normal, with long, wavy brown hair and a look of slight boredom and impatience on his face.

The one in the middle got up, throwing his arms out as if he wanted a hug. I didn't move; if I did, someone would have gotten slapped across the face. "Welcome, McCarthy coven." I noticed Carlisle wince out of the corner of my eye. "I hope you did not think that you could get away quite that easily. We might have waited, but we still had you right where we wanted you." We all stiffened, and I tried to suppress a growl in the back of my throat. I leaned forward a bit, but not enough to make him suspicious.

Old Man Number One continued. "I am Aro." Immediately after he said that, I was met with memories of him in better days from Carlisle, when he was still welcomed here. Simultaneously, in Aro's head, I saw him snap the neck of a woman with black hair and pale white skin who looked similar to him, ripping her head off and throwing it into a raging fire. I cringed backwards visibly, hoping to whatever powers there might be that I had not just seen what I thought that I did.

Aro noticed me cringe back, and a creepy smile that sent shivers up my back made an appearance. "There is no need to be afraid of justice. Although I suppose that you could be saved. Tell me, young one, what is your name?"

I let out the snarl that I had been fighting to hold in. "I'm not a freaking baby."

Everything went silent, and I could feel everyone's eyes on me, even my family's. Blaze sent me a questioning look that I caught out of the corner of my eyes, and I sighed, rubbing my forehead and trying to calm down. Getting angry wouldn't solve anything.

**Yeah, but it sure helps, sometimes. No, it doesn't.**

Aro, who had looked shocked for a few seconds, suddenly let out a small laugh, his eyes darkening. "Well, we have a lively one here, don't we, Caius? Marcus?" Neither said anything, and Aro didn't really wait for any reply anyway. "Well, anyway, what is your name? Oh, and before you decide that you want to lie, as I'm sure you probably would try to, I'll just bring in my favorite lie detector. Jane, will you get Gabriella, please?"

Blonde midget turned around and walked out the door, and I sighed, trying to keep in check. "My name is Skye."

Aro turned back to me, and I saw that creepy smile again. "Is that so? Tell me, Skye, can you do anything special?"

Carlisle, Edward, Jasper, and Alice all froze behind me. I kept my mouth shut, and Aro's eyes tightened. "Child, I believe that I asked you a question."

My right hand curled into a fist, and I managed to bite out, "My name is not 'Child'."

Caius, the blonde one, I think, leaned forward in his chair, his sneer becoming even deeper. Marcus, on the other hand, looked intrigued by the whole argument.

Just as Aro opened his mouth again, Jane burst through the doors behind us again. "She's coming, my Lord."

Aro brightened right up. "Excellent, my child. Come over here."

Jane skipped across the space between us and the three overgrown dust bunnies, and as she reached Aro, she sat down by his legs. I sent her a death glare.

Aro spoke again, not looking anywhere near me as the sound of heels clicking on the floor drew closer. **Really?** "There she is. You'll find that Gabriella is not one to mess around with, despite her appearance. If you lie to her, there will be dangerous consequences."

I prepared myself to lunge "Gabriella", and as she rounded the corner, everyone stopped moving.

"Gabriella" was around 5 feet 6 inches (a little shorter than me), boosted a little by the one inch stiletto she was wearing. She was wearing black boots, grey skinny jeans with a black mini- skirt over them, a red long sleeved button- up blouse, a black corset over that, a black cropped jacket, and a black fedora with a red rose. Her arms were crossed over her chest, her hip cocked to one side, and her hair in a French braid down to the middle of her back. One eyebrow was raised, the rest of her face blank, and she was tapping out a fast beat on one of her arms, as if she was preoccupied with thinking of something else.

And then she opened her mouth. "Wha'appened?" A very pretty voice, with a very thick New York accent. **There she is.**

Demon let out a choked noise at the back of his throat. As it happened, she turned to us, looking over each of us. "Who'ah dey?"

And then I lunged at her.

* * *

_**Yeah... You should review this. And try not to kill me.**_

_**Peace, love, and, "I FOUND WALDO! Granted, he was drunk and hit on me, BUT I FOUND HIM!",**_

_**Skittles31**_


	46. Breathe 'til tomorrow, no hope for today

_**Pita Breaaaaaaaadddddd!**_

_**This chapter is dedicated to the lovely Moliveline/shine. She brought me pita bread while I babysat small children, and it is because of her that I am not sitting hungry and in want of pita bread. I am sitting hungry and in want of *cookies*. Difference? I think so.**_

_**Sorry, Phillip (my stomach) gets hungry easily. Anyways, yeah, so read to the bottom of the chapter before you all have massive aneurisms and/or decide to murder me at school. That would be uncool. And suck. A lot.**_

_**DISCLAIMER: When you all find Pigfarts and meet Rumbleroar on Mars, then I shall use all the Red Vines in the world to FIND and tie the previously mentioned authors to a chair and make them give me the rights. Then I will use FLOOPOWDERPOWER to get me out of there before the police force me to dance! CRUCIO!**_

_**I watched A Very Potter Musical recently. What now? '8-) - Raised eyebrow smirking smiley.**_

__

**ON WITH THE STORY!**

* * *

_**-Skye POV-**_

The scent of cinnamon rushed past my nose, and I watched "Gabriella's" golden eyes widen. She took one step backwards, and I growled at her. In a few milliseconds, Blaze had his arms wrapped around me; "Gabriella" was fully crouched into a fighting stance, teeth bared; and Aro's face was more gleeful than even the Grinch from all those Christmas specials.

Max, who looked as though she couldn't and wouldn't believe anything that had just happened, called out hesitantly, "Val?"

"Gabriella" didn't show any sign of responding, and I honestly didn't expect her to.

Caius, a.k.a. Lucius Malfoy, was fully sitting up in his seat. "Well, isn't this curious?"

Aro, to add insult to injury, said, "Well, who is Gabriella to all of you?"

I snarled some more, and ripped myself out of Blaze's arms. I ignored Aro entirely. "You witch. Where the fuck have you been for the past few months? Here, selling us out? Making sure that we ended up dead and you ended up the fricking golden girl?" I growled out at her. Blaze's arm reached out to grab mine and pull me backwards, but I pulled it out of his arm as soon as he touched me.

I stormed in front of my entire family minus one, and stood facing "Gabriella". "Listen here, missy, I don't know where the fuck your morals went, but we're a flipping family, and I sure as hell am not cashing out of that now." Then, all my anger just drained out of me, and my eyes started to sting for the umpteenth time in an hour. "Why would you just leave us all like that, Val?"

"Gabriella" looked as confused as anything I'd ever seen, but then something flashed through her eyes. "I don't have the slightest clue what the hell you're about."

Then, as if the situation wasn't bad enough at that point, a tall, red- headed boy with a strange set of crimson eyes- **Eww…**- walked in, taking up station next to Val/ Gabriella. He bowed to the three old men on the thrones, then turned to Val. "We need you back for the new set."

Her eyes snapped to the red head that had just walked in, and she pouted. "Really? It's annoying, gotta admit…"

He smirked, this slimy smirk that made me want to kick him in the crotch. "But you'd do it for me, wouldn't you?"

Then red head boy crossed the biggest line in the history of "Frigging Biggest Lines" ever: he wrapped an arm around Val's waist, and then leaned forward to kiss her on the forehead. That was when Demon flipped out and up.

Before Mr. Smooth Criminal could even press his slimy lips to Val's skin, Demon had gotten himself across the room and behind him, whipped him around, and punched him straight in the face. Mr. SC went flying backwards, and before Valerie could even say anything, Demon had grabbed her forearms, swung her body behind him and away from Smooth Criminal, and was now chanting over and over, "Mine."

Val looked confused, and she looked over every single one of us, her face growing more puzzled by the second. She lingered on me for a few seconds, but I shook my head very slightly and a flash went behind her eyes. She turned away, and then looked finally at the six foot five man in front of her.

Slowly, hesitantly, Val reached out an arm, grasping one of Demon's arms and turning him around slowly. She grabbed him by the hand, looking down at the two of them clasped together, then went up on her tip- toes a little, putting her hand on the side of his face. Demon inhaled deeply, and his eyes closed. Alice, behind me, muttered so low that I almost couldn't hear it at all, "Shit."

Val looked completely content to be there, and Demon leaned into it entirely, looking both completely tense and relaxed at the same time. Abruptly, Demon reached his arms around her, pulled her full force to him, and wrapped his arms around her. I smirked, then frowned as Val started to trace the bags under Demon's eyes. Evidently, he'd only been drinking the necessities, and not what he really needed to make himself full. **The bloody masochist. Of course he would…**

And then Val broke the silence- **probably feeling Aro's death glare burning through the back of her skull or something**-with a few words that probably caused Demon's heart to shatter into a million different, tiny, jagged pieces. "Would it hurt you that much to say that I don't remember you?"

**Sweet Jesus, if there is one thing she hasn't forgotten, it's ***how to completely and totally be tactless.*****

Demon's eyes snapped open, and she looked up at him with a sad, sheepish smile. But she never said, "I'm sorry." I wanted to kick her for it.

Demon managed to rasp out, "What?" And Val just shook her head, her head lowering and not looking him in the eye. "I don't remember any of you." The look of pure anguish on Demon's face was almost enough to make me want to run out of the room.

Demon grabbed her upper arms, looking for any sign that she was lying that might be in her eyes. "Val? Please, come on. This isn't funny. I don't see you in three years and you pull this? Please, you're killing me. You're my best friend—"

Aro, who evidently hadn't counted on that little piece of information being passed along to Valerie, called out, "Va- Gabriella, that's enough."

Val shrugged her shoulders, still with that fudged- up half- sorry, half- sheepish expression on her face. Then her eyebrows furrowed, and she turned to look at Aro.

"I thought that I was here for all my life?" she asked slowly, and Marcus the Almost- Bored- Vampire- Paper- Puppet leaned forward, his eyes darting between Valerie and Demon. "And what did you just almost call me?" A slight pause as she read his mind, and then, _"My real name's fucking Valerie?"_

Aro looked like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. "Well…"

Val threw her hands up in the air. "I've been trying to remember who I was for months now, and you lied and never told me about these people who very obviously knew me before my memories went blank?"

Aro averted his eyes, trying to get back to safer ground for his sorry ass. "We will discuss this later, Va-Gabriella. Right now, you have to go with—"

Valerie held up one hand. "Wait a minute. So who the freak are these people to me?" She looked at Mira. "What, is she my best friend who I can no longer remember?" She turned to Fang. "What about him? Some relative of mine?" Then she turned to Demon. "And who the frick is this guy? My boyfriend? My husband? What the frick, man?"

Aro was trying to save face, and it really wasn't working out for him too well. "You see, Gabriella—"

Val cut him off, the old gleam coming back to her eyes as I knew that it probably would, even without any of her memories. It was just too much a part of her for her to lose. "My name's Valerie. And you all know it, _Lord Aro._ It's just that no one bothered to tell me."

Finally Marcus, the only old dude who hadn't spoken yet, stood up. "Valerie. We wanted to keep you with us. But this is enough. We have work to do." She shot him a look of, "What the flip are you talking about, you crazy old man?", but nevertheless she backed off, turning around and walking to Marcus's other side.

Red-headed Kid was staring at all of us, namely Demon. Then he turned to Val and said, "Whoa. You've got a beef-cake for a boyfriend."

I waited for Demon to deny his relationship with Valerie, but all he did was look at her, then turn around and walk back to where a majority of us were crowded. Esme and Fang reached out to put a hand reassuringly on his back, but he didn't respond to it.

Aro, realizing that everything was sort of settling down now, turned back to us, the malicious glint coming back to his eyes. "So, out of curiosity, how many of you have abilities? As it could be possible for those of you to join me, and then your injustices could be pardoned."

At this point, I realized that this plan was not going as fast as I would have hoped. So, since Valerie has that influence on me, in the middle of Aro's speech on his guard and what their abilities were, I crouched down and launched myself at Valerie, throwing the first punch.

Valerie managed to see it coming—**Of course she frigging saw it coming, it was her move in the first place that I just pulled out of her memories** –and swerved herself out of the way to knee me in the lower back. I fell forward a bit, then remembered to spin around and sweep her legs out from under her. **Thank jeezums my legs are long.**

Val fell backwards, rolling over her head into a crouching position. By that point, I had already gotten myself back up on my feet, and was now mirroring Val's position. We stared at each other for a few seconds, then lunged at each other at the exact same time, getting ready to wrestle. I won this one, since Val was smaller than I was, and we tumbled around the floor trying to get the upper hand. I wrapped my hands around her neck, straddling her legs, trying to force her to stay still so that I could throw a punch at her face. It wasn't like we hadn't done this how many times before. Val, even if she wasn't conscious of the fact that she knew what was happening, had the sixth sense that all of us did in recognizing the fight routine.

Sure enough, Val threw her weight into chucking me sideways, springing up a few milliseconds before I did. She kept her hands unlit, unlike the other times when we had practiced this in the past two years, and lunged at me with a punch. I spun on my toes, throwing her outstretched arm up in the air and pushing her away with a little spin, giving me enough room to roundhouse kick her in the side. Val caught the foot flying at her and forced it straight up into the air with one hard push. Her punches flew at me as fast as she could throw them, but I still managed to dodge a few of them. She threw a snap kick and I caught it in my arms, pulling her closer. In a classic Valerie movement, she jumped in the air, twisted her entire body around to fake a kick at my face so that I'd fall back a little, and then landed so that one foot was on the ground, the other in my hands, and she was considerably more stable. With a grunt- **and I'm suspecting some firepower was involved too**- , she pushed off the foot on the ground fast enough onto her hands that I went flying through the air, letting go of her foot. I managed to catch myself at the last minute, falling into a forward roll and twist once I got up, and Val had done a back twist flip from her handstand position to get back to standing.

Just as I was about to lunge at her again, Aro finally lost what little cool he had left. "ENOUGH!" He yelled, and I turned to look at him, my eyes still narrowed and teeth still bared. Aro looked between Val and I as though he'd just hit some sort of genetic jackpot. I still wanted to kick his ass, and that wasn't going to change any time soon. "Jane, you will take the entire McCarthy clan back to their holding room. Valerie, meanwhile, you will cool down. Fighting with the possible new recruits will not help anyone," Aro said pseudo-calmly. I growled at him, and then turned to go follow Jane, the evil blonde troll from before.

Jane didn't say anything on the way to the room, and I really couldn't care less whether or not she had said anything. I was more worried about what the hell I was going to do about the twenty some-odd people who were glaring at the back of my head.

We got to the room and all of us filed in silently. Then the door closed and Demon whirled on me. "She'd been gone for months?"

I ran my hand down my face, not even sure how the frick I could begin to explain this without everyone ripping my head off.

"Yeah." **Mhm. Yeah, Skye, that's a beautiful start.**

Edward, who had been quiet all this time, looked me straight in the eyes. "You sent her away."

I froze. **See, this is why I don't like Edward sometimes! He figures things out too quickly for my use!**

I didn't look Demon in the eyes, just looking down at the floor under me. I couldn't look him in the face, not with what I was about to tell him. "You've got to understand that they only wanted her. She was the catalyst for all of this. If Valerie had stayed with us, then we wouldn't be able to keep going. We're too much of a threat, with one indestructible vampire in our group. Without her, we come off as a threat, not an indestructible enemy. So I erased her memories and told her to get out. I gave her the name Gabriella, and then she left. I hadn't heard from her since." **There it is. The short, squeaky clean version of why Valerie's not here anymore.**

At this point, everyone had given me a 3 foot circle of personal space, and the amount of tension that was in the room was unbe-freaking-lievable. I shook my hair to one side of my head and out of my eyes, saying, "It's not my fault. And I'm not sorry. We need to keep going, with or without her. It's what I was made to do."

Demon lunged at me without any warning, his eyes as black as pitch. I jumped out of the way, and Demon flew past me, growling and cursing me in every language and with every word that he knew.

Then came the hard part, when Demon had calmed down enough to string words together in a more logical way. His voice got deathly cold and low. "You _**bitch**_. She _trusted_ you with her _fucking life_. She led you through _everything_ when we were human, made sure that you didn't end up **dead**, and fought to make sure that you were never captured again. And you just _let her go_ like that as if she isn't **worth a rat's ass** to you? What **the fuck** ever happened to "_sticking together_" and "**trust**"? _**I don't fucking care**_ that she's the most powerful person in the room! YOU SHOULD HAVE NEVER FUCKING TURNED HER OVER! DID YOU STOP TO EVEN THINK IT ALL THROUGH?"

"Demon, you're a good friend and family member, but you're not a strategist. I was looking for what was best for us, and letting Valerie go was our only option," I said calmly, inwardly wincing. I hadn't planned this far.

Demon let out a low growl, his hands curling and the sounds of his pants tearing where he held them reaching me. "So what were you going to do if we found out? Just keep _lying_ to us? Why did you even bother with saying anything when she fucking _showed up_?"

I couldn't take it anymore; I got into his face, poking him in the chest to make sure that my point was very clear to both him and whoever was standing outside of the door. "You don't fucking _get it!_ Valerie has _**always**_ been the "_golden girl_", and everything that happens to us happens because someone wanted _her powers_. And then _finally_, the point comes when I can _stop running_ **forever,** and you expect me not to take it? We _lasted, didn't we?_ We're **still standing, aren't we? **The only _**fucking reason**_ that we're not off roaming _free as a shitting cloud_ is because she told them **where the fuck I was. **After that, we were fucking done. Even with all her memories **gone, **_**she still manages to ruin my life.**_"

Demon was silent, glaring down at me, and then said quietly, "So that's what you've always thought? That's why you yelled out there, and then lied to us?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "She's what everyone wanted. And half of it was true. The other half of what you were led to believe… well, lying has helped us before, hasn't it?"

Demon's hands came up so fast to wrap around my neck that I almost couldn't believe it. "Stay. Away. From. Me." He snarled out, and all I did was blink calmly, mentally freaking out and praying that he wouldn't kill me.

I raised an eyebrow, and managed to calmly say, "Fine." Demon started to shake, then dropped me from where I had been dangling five inches above the ground. He walked over to the opposite end of the room and put his head in his hands, and I almost felt badly.

**Almost, but not quite.**

A few minutes into the dead silence that had ensued after Demon and my face off, the softened sound of footsteps came floating through the door, getting closer to where we were. They stopped when they were outside of our door, and I heard Valerie's voice float through the walls.

"Move. I have to talk to them."

The guard, a blonde guy that didn't have anything too special about him besides the red eyes that everyone in the human world would say was pretty special, said, "Gabriella—"

Val snarled. "Didn't you get the frigging memo? My name's Valerie, Andrew. And don't you dare give me any answer except, 'Of course.' I'm already in enough of a crappy mood, and if you try to make it even worse, I will friggin' light your ass like a Roman candle." There was silence, the familiar sound of something being lit on fire, and then someone moving hastily down the hallway. The door was flung open and Valerie was standing alone in the middle of the entryway. She looked pretty blank-faced, and I kept my eyes trained on her as she entered the room.

She closed the door softly behind her, then stormed up to me, dropping herself down almost silently. "Tell me everything."

I motioned her to come closer to me, and then hugged her while on my knees. She was shaking with adrenalized laughter, and I yanked gently on her braid. "Why the fuck should I? It's not like it'll make my life any better."

She mouthed, 'This is so crazy,' to me, a huge smile on her face as she snarled out, "Here's why you should. If you don't, I will break off your limbs one by one and light fire to them slowly."

I turned her around, working my way through the braid in her hair that made absolutely no sense to me and didn't even look right on her. I snorted. "Because at this point, that really matters to me. I'm gonna die anyway. And you're probably going to be the one to kill me."

Val, looking incredibly lazy in front of me, grabbed her shirt roughly and slammed a hand against the floor. "Listen, girly. I have no frigging idea who the frick I really am and I just found out that my so- called family has been lying to me since when I could remember. You are going to help out, whether you like it or not. And if that doesn't work, I'll get Jane in here to deal with you."

I worked through a really hard knot in her hair, wondering why the frick she hadn't combed it before throwing it into this contraption. I mentally counted five seconds, then spoke. "Fine. I just hope that you know that after you kill me, you're killing the only family you've ever really had."

Val loosened her grip on her shirt. "What do you mean?"

Finally, I turned her around to face me again. I put my hands on her head and tried to break down the mental block that I'd made for the memories of Val's first 16 years of life. "You spent the first 10 years of your life with Prince Charming over there—" At this point, I was sitting there reliving the first major parts of Val's life with her: meeting Demon, flying in the Play Ground after her wings had finally grown to full size, busting out of the Institute for the first time. And of course, as all of this was happening, the rest of our dysfunctional family, all of them angry at me (even Rosalie), were staring at the two of us wondering what the hell was going on. But none of them said a single word to either of us, and just watched.

"—in a really bad place that none of us ever want to go back to. You spent three years outside of that place living free, but then you each got captured again and separated to different places. He met six other people, including his brother, and you met me and five other kids. You broke us out six months later, and then managed to keep us out for the rest of our lives. Three years later, you found Prince Charming and his new family of three years. We stayed together for a while, then you blasted your way across several state lines and got beaten up by some people trying to kill us. You fell near where the McCarthys were staying, and they changed you. We went on a wild goose chase to try and find you, then finally settled down purely by coincidence in your town. We found you, realized it was you, and stayed for a little while longer in school. Then we nearly died, you saved us with a needle (the most ironic thing ever), and we turned. Two weeks after the subsequent freak-out when we learned what we were, we ended up learning that we were going to get killed. We spread out, with each of us going two by two and the McCarthys spreading over South America. We stuck to Canada and America. You and I were in Santa Fe. After three years, we got caught again because of you and your un-wavering ability to be the golden girl, which makes me sick." After nearly talking myself and Valerie to death, I was done with the super-strength wall that I had put up in front of Val's memory bank to keep Aro out of any of her thoughts and finding out anything about any of us. Now was the supreme, super- duper problem of giving her back the memories that I had _taken_.

Val raised an eyebrow, that all familiar glint now coming back into her eyes. "The golden girl?"

I tried to focus on giving Val back everything that I'd ever remembered taking, which was every memory of her after the vampire change and then, most importantly, planning the infiltration of the Volturi with me. It wasn't as much taking her memories from her but my taking her memories, copying them into my head, freezing certain frames, and then rearranging them so that the full part of the memory was completely screwed up. This was the most nerve-wracking thing ever, since I could possibly have screwed up a memory of hers forever. Plus, I'd realized that everyone's specific memories were organized differently. Val's were separated according to degree of happiness, and then subdivided into age group. Other people had entire reels of their entire lives uninterrupted, which was a lot easier. Now with Valerie, I frowned and attempted to shift everything back into the right place. **It sure doesn't help that I picked up some of Valerie's habits from her memories; honestly, I knew she was impatient but this is *ridiculous***.

Most of her happy memories involved us, Kami, and Demon; it made me smile. "You always make everyone seem second-best with whatever. And that's what makes us a target. So I sent you away, and you still managed to come out as the big winner. It's something I never liked about you."

Valerie started frowning. "Not my fault that you fall behind me." Then she mouthed, 'Really?'

I didn't say anything, just looking at my knees for a few seconds. Then, bitterly, I said, "Of course not." I'll be honest; I wasn't sure which question I was answering with that.

Val blew her bangs up into the air, and I knew that she was officially back. She mouthed to me, 'I don't mean to. I didn't ask for all this. In the Institute, the only thing that I ever asked for was someone to stop everything. And Demon.'

I bit my lip hard, wishing that I weren't such a horrible person. I took my hands from off her head, having moved everything that I had moved in the first place back to the right place, and placed them on my lap. 'I know. And I'm sorry.'

She half- smiled. 'Trust me. You wouldn't want to be the golden girl. Aro's a pain in the ass, and Caius is just all kinds of crazy. I think the hair gel got to his brain, or he's trying to hard to be the next Joker.' I smiled at her, and she returned it in full.

Then, the real Valerie launched herself at me, hugging me. _I thought I'd never get this done. And I found a weak link._

I hugged her back harder. **Nice to have you back, Shadow.**

Angel, who had been growing increasingly slack-jawed as this entire weird somewhat four-sided exchange had happened, threw herself at Valerie, and Val held her tight against her, rocking her and smoothing down her hair. They remained silent, but the both of them chuckled at certain times, and I knew that all the conversations were going to be mental because we couldn't let anyone hear us outside this room.

Val, Angel and I pulled ourselves from off the floor to face everyone, who looked so confused it took everything that I had to keep from laughing out loud. Val took one look at everyone, and mouthed, 'Hi, guys.'

Max mouthed, 'I'm going to kill you,' and I chuckled silently as she flew at Valerie. She hugged her, then smacked her hard upside the head. Valerie and I looked frantically at her and she said, "Listen, that better not have been a lie. Otherwise, I might just have to kill you."

I snorted. "Would I really lie when I could become a firework at any minute?" We exchanged smiles, and Esme whispered, "Good Lord…"

Val smirked at me, tossing her hair over one shoulder. "I feel like you're the type." Then she ran right in front of Jasper and hugged him as well as Alice. She went around the room, nothing but a smile on her face. Esme started to sob again, Carlisle looked like he couldn't believe it, and Demon…

Well, Demon just couldn't keep the sun- smile off his face long enough. Val took one look at him and walked up to right in front of him, her hands tucked into the sides of her skirt. She smiled slyly up at him, mouthing, 'Hi, stranger'.

Demon looked down at her, shook his head, and then picked her up, spinning her around almost silently. After spinning her around twice, he put her lightly on the floor, pressing his forehead to hers. My eyes widened. **Well, there's one more memory for the happy memories box…**

Her smile was almost blinding, and I could hear the collective intake of breath from Mira, Nudge, and Angel. Knowing full well that he couldn't talk too loudly, and neither could she, Demon leaned forward, leaving their lips a little less than half a centimeter apart. My eyes threatened to fall out of my head, and then he moved to the side, barely brushing her cheek with his lips. And then I barely heard him whisper, "I missed you so much, Val. It's good to have you back." The look on Valerie's face as he pulled away slightly made me want to laugh, cry, and shout "HALLELUJAH!" all at the same time. **Also, I'm pretty sure that she just suppressed a shiver.** Then a split second later, she was composed again. "I missed you too."

After a few seconds of the two of them smiling at each other in complete bliss, the rest of us looking like we had just won the lottery, Jasper's facial expression growing to look like someone hyped up on laughing gas, and my half glee- filled, half- "Oi! We've got to find a way to not die, Val! Prioritize!" expression, Val pulled back out of Demon's arms, looking as though she was rather reluctant about the entire business. **This memory deserves an entirely new box of happy unto itself.** She turned around and mouthed to all of us, 'I have to go now, or people will get suspicious.' Before any of us could move, Demon had wrapped his arms around Valerie from the back, his head burrowed into her neck. He must have said something, because Val looked as though she would blush pretty hard if she could. She crossed her arms over her chest, and Demon chuckled. A small smile that you could have called shy on anyone but Valerie since she didn't _do_ shy appeared on Valerie's face, and she picked up one of his hands from around her waist, tracing something on his palm. He nodded, and then pulled her back into him once again for a final hug. She went around and hugged each person before she finally walked out of the room, throwing a final wave over her shoulder as well as a look of 'Don't forget' at me. The door closed, and everyone looked at me.

I smiled and waved at everyone innocently. Demon mouthed, "Umm, sorry about earlier." I shrugged at him, which was pretty much as much as he was going to get while people were still around that wanted to kill us.

Hope shivered, and Jinx mouthed, "That was really scary. Jeezums, you two better never team up again."

I snorted, walking back over to Blaze. I wasn't going to bother arguing with Jinx. Instead, I was going to hope that as soon as we figured out a way out of here without casualties, I would be able to figure out a way to get Valerie's memories out of my head. **Let's just hope this all works out…**

* * *

_**Ok, so this ended up like eleven pages as a Word document. Lovely. You have read those eleven pages. Now please don't kill me. As Voldemort once said, "Killing people doesn't make them like you [or update faster]. It just makes them dead."**_

_**Ok, I swear I'll stop now. Really. You all probably FIND this to be annoying… ok, now I'm done.**_

_**REVIEW!**_

_**Peace, love, and:-**_

"_**-at leshawnaSeville15' sister's basketball game, where a little girl is making a foul shot. leshawnaSeville15 and I on the sidelines attempt to make her mess up. She throws the ball up.-**_

_**Me: Jigglypuff evolved into Hufflepuff. –She misses, then tries again-**_

_**Me: Harry Potter. –She sinks the shot. Leshawnaseville15 scoffs.-**_

_**Her: Pssh. Twihard.",**_

_**Skittles31**_


	47. Spider Lines We Forcefeed the AlmostSane

_**DANCING WITH FIRE HAS NOW OFFICIALLY BEEN ALIVE FOR 2 YEARS! FUNFETTI YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!**_

_**Unfortunately, fanfiction was suffering from a panic attack yesterday, so I couldn't update. So now, when DWF is now two years old fully, I shall update. It is so freaking amazing that I can say that I have been working on this one piece of writing for two years. I'm gonna cry when it's over. LE SOB!**_

_**In happier news, the story is now officially coming. AND IT IS THE RETURN OF SLANTS AND SARCASM! Oh, and Val's favorite word is "lovely." In case you didn't get that by the end of the chapter.**_

_**DISCLAIMER: On the first day of December, Saint Nic-o-las gave to me:... At this point I don't ha-ave a treee... FA LA LA! (Sung to the 12 days of Christmas).**_

__

**And now, ON WITH THE STORY!**

* * *

_**-Val POV-**_

_Lovely. Just fricking lovely. And I'm not even sure if that's sarcasm or not._

It gets harder to act like you're angry at everyone in the vicinity who has lied to you ever since you could remember (which was supposedly only up to three months ago) when you suddenly remember everything ever about your life, along with the reasoning behind the entire grand scheme of why you are siding with the Volturi, and then you feel excessively buoyant for reasons like seeing your best friend again after 3 years.

This gets problematic when you are deep in enemy territory, and cannot stop smiling to yourself because you are still exceedingly bubbly, tingly, and sort of dazed from a certain best friend (who smells better than you remember) blowing very- good- smelling air all over your face.

Would I change anything that had just happened for the world, though? Hell no. I'd just attempt to move it to the back of my mind without giggling to myself like some sort of airhead with helium for brains. _Like I'm doing right now... And failing dismally at… Damn it, Demon, why do you make me so happy?_

I bit my lip hard, trying to see whether or not that brief instance of pain would help me to stop risking everything that Skye and I had worked for. I managed to reign myself back in, and then continued "storming" my way through the rest of the Volturi castle. Then I got back to thinking, and my anxiety sank in. I felt kind of worried, and wondered whether or not Skye had erased everyone's memory of the past twenty- three minutes yet. Yes, it would mean making some people hate me and Skye again, but it was completely worth it if I was going to have to figure out how the_ hell _to get them out of this fricking godforsaken mansion alive. Plus, it would make things unbelievably easier if we didn't have to worry about some twenty- odd people accidentally thinking of something that could potentially screw us all over.

I put my head down and sat against the wall of the corridor, trying to figure out how the hell Skye had managed to come up with the base for this giant rescue mission. _The kid is obviously more of a deviant than I thought she was._ Skye and I were going for any weak points that we could find, which basically equated to finding out how to take down the united front of brothers. Skye and I figured that if we could turn the brothers against each other somehow, make them doubt each other's choices and get anxious, then it would be possible for us to work something out.

It obviously did not help that Aro was the one calling the shots, and that Caius and Marcus were pretty ok with the entire, "Sure. We agree with you, and we won't question," thing. There never seemed to be any conflict, which was really upsetting seeing as these were super old men. They were _supposed _to be crabby and not agree with anyone on anything, because they could. Either way, the only saving graces we had at this point were that I had gotten closer to Chelsea, and that I knew that Marcus was only so bored with everything because Aro had had his sister, who was also Marcus's mate, murdered when he heard that they were planning on leaving. Then he had Chelsea bond Marcus to the Volturi so that he wouldn't think of leaving anymore.

The moral of this story? Don't ever fall in love and try to leave the Volturi, because joining the Volturi is like becoming a blood brother.

Too bad that I'm a girl.

I ran through plans in my head, trying to keep everything in my head hazy and vague so that if Aro ever happened to touch me, either by accident or on purpose, there wouldn't be anything too bad that he could find out. Evidently, I was much too involved in planning, since I didn't hear Marcus walk down the corridor and stop in front of me.

"Valerie?" I snapped my head up, and then forced my face into a scowl. "Oh, lovely," I muttered, looking into Marcus' head and seeing that he wanted to "talk". About a whole bunch of things, evidently, which included (but were not limited to) the reason why everyone in the Volturi was lying to Gabriella and the entire Demon situation. _Oh boy…_

"Walk with me," he said, and not even waiting for an answer, he kept gliding down the hallway as though he were skating on air. I got up, scowling at his back, and then followed behind him, walking deeper into the giant maze that was the Volturi castle.

We reached the McCarthy room after a minute, and Andrew looked briefly at Marcus then turned his attention to me. I twisted my face into a snarl, and he looked away, stepping to the side and bowing to Marcus. Marcus swung the door open and let it drift to hit the wall loudly. I flinched, but walked into the room holding my real family anyways. Then I panicked when Marcus stopped with one eyebrow raised, and had enough of a cool head to look down and try to figure out why _Gabriella_ would have been in the McCarthy holding room in the first place. _As if I didn't have enough of a complex before…_

"Valerie?" Marcus asked, one eyebrow raised, and I shrugged at him. "If anyone was going to tell me the truth, it'd be the large group of vampires that was waiting to die." I fought hard against the flinch that was threatening to blow my cover.

He nodded, and then turned to look into the room again. I looked over his shoulder, and wondered why the hell he was staring at Demon like he was Didyme or something. _Wierdo! Stop batting for my boy!_

I blinked twice, wondering what the hell I had just said in my mind.

Marcus put his hand on the small of my back and pushed me forward. I walked up slowly, looking over my shoulder and trying to read Marcus's mind to learn why the hell he had that mad Nudge glint in his eyes.

Marcus put me a few feet in front of him, and then he stared Demon in the face while Demon was staring at me. I tried not to stare back at him that hard, but I think Marcus knew exactly what was happening. He looked closely at Demon, then back at me, and this cycle continued at least four times. Then, he pointed at Demon, and I was nearly blown out of the water. "You. Come here."

Demon got up from his corner, purposely knocking shoulders with Skye as he went, and I knew for a fact that it was a sign that Skye had re-erased their memories. Demon walked slowly, human speed, and kept his eyes on me the entire time. After two seconds, I had to look down, because the intensity in Demon's eyes was almost too much to look at. I saw his feet stop a few inches in front of mine, and I could_ still_ feel his eyes on my face.

Marcus looked between Demon and I, his eyes widening. I looked into his mind, wondering whether or not his head had been affected by all those cobwebs over the years, and that was when I figured that mental spiders can crawl between people's minds, otherwise I was going to have myself committed.

Marcus's super- special power was to see people's relationships and the strength of them. Personally, I never got how that worked, because I didn't know whether or not that meant romantic relationships, families, or just that everyone was connected by some imaginary lines that got stronger depending on how well people knew each other. So I had no idea what was happening, but I guessed that whatever Marcus was seeing meant that Demon and I were much better friends than I had originally thought.

Running between Demon and me, from Marcus' perspective, was a softly glowing blue line, turned a dark purple in some places and black in others, pulsing and twirling, connecting Demon and me together. Either end started in the middle of our chests, then they circled around our collective torsos four times before it flew upwards to the air above our heads. It made a couple of loops in the air, then dipped to both of our stomachs. The pattern got swirlier, resembling vines of a tree much more, and then formed a cloud about a centimeter from our heads. It was like we were in the middle of some sort of halo, and the halo had turned into a very nice purple by that time. Then the line turned black, and the two lines which were swirling abruptly flew away from each other. They went in opposite directions for about three centimeters, then the two ends passed each other and started the vine- like pattern again around us, back to the original blue. The ends swirled around our torsos collectively three times again, and then flew out diagonally in different directions to start to spiral, turning purple. Then, one of the ends flew upwards, turning a dark purple that bordered on black, and went past the outermost layer to start the vine-like pattern above our heads again. The other end flew to the left downwards, mirroring the other end even in color, and then looped back up to first twine with the other into some very elaborate looking knot, then into a sort of DNA- looking spiral around the knotty- thing. The ends then separated and flew out in different and opposite directions, making much bigger loops and turning black again on both sides. Finally, the two ends came in closer to each other, but when they were 3 inches or so away from each other, the one on my side abruptly turned the other way while the one closer to Demon went into the vine pattern again. Then they turned black as they went into a complex loose knot in between us, but then one end turned the color of the purple from before again while the other turned black.

Then the line stopped, but it was still pulsing white at the end. The majority of the line had faded away into the air- _whatthefrick?_- and the only part that was left was the last loose knot. Looking at it through Marcus's head, I couldn't breathe.

"Umm, what does…?" I asked Marcus wide-eyed, pulling out of his mind, and he snapped out of whatever trance he was in. He looked between Demon and I, then abruptly turned away from the both of us and walked back out of the room. I looked back at Demon, exchanging a confused look with him. Then I realized that I shouldn't have even been looking at him and hurried behind Marcus, throwing one look back at Demon against my will. He was still standing in the same place as before, and I saw something behind his eyes flash as his head tilted to the side before the door closed on him and Andrew stepped back into guard position.

_Damn it. I'm pretty sure that I just blew my entire cover wide open._

I hurried behind Marcus and pushed the possibly developing- Demon situation to the back of my mind to worry about some other time. "What did that—"

Marcus interrupted me, turning abruptly in the direction of the personal rooms of the guard, one of which I shared with Chelsea. He was borderline air-skating by this point. "You need to leave the castle in the next three hours."

I stopped short. "What?"

Marcus stopped walking when he realized that I had stopped. I saw him take a deep breath, and then the truth came spilling out of his mouth. I was thankful for that, and it was what made me feel as though Marcus was taking up the position of 'uncle' or something in my screwy, jacked- up, completely- fake- in- relation- to- him life. At least he didn't lie to me. "You're too close. I thought I'd recognized it before in the common room, but then I had to check between you and that boy and I realized that you're much too emotionally invested in this trial to be able to kill them when the time comes."

I stepped back, eyes wide. For some reason, any type of controls over my language skills had been completely forgotten by my brain. So I went with the all- around basic answer for any time that I couldn't figure out what the hell I wanted to say: "Ex_cuse _me?"

I blamed it on New York and my marvelous upbringing. Demon said I was just too street for my own good.

Marcus kept going as if I weren't in the middle of yet another panic attack/ out- of- body experience. "The amount of ties between you and that boy is just as much as Edward and Bella, although you both have a very different pattern tying you together. Valerie, the long and the short of it is that it simply would not be in your best interest to stay for his execution. You would probably feel some sort of pain when we were forced to rip him apart and set him on fire."

_Well gee, when you put it that way, Marcus… And since when did you care about my best interest? You're the one that's fricking trying to get rid of my family!_ "What does that mean?"

Marcus began pacing the hallway, and if it weren't for the fact that he looked absolutely nothing like me and that I was a full grown person, not a 2- day- old baby, I would say that Marcus was the reason I paced when I thought too much. "Oh, Felix isn't going to like this at all…," Marcus said, obviously ignoring me.

Then, finally, Marcus looked me straight in the eyes and said, "You're in love with that boy."

I blinked once, willing my jaw not to go make friends with my shoes, and then whisper- yelled, "EX_CUSE _ME?"

Evidently, I wasn't taking this news as well as other 17 year old bird kids that Marcus frequently told that they were in love with their best friends. He'd _obviously_ gotten better reactions in the past… _I mean __**really!**__ Who the hell drops a bomb like that? PEOPLE SKILLS, MARCUS! AND TACT! _Marcus looked at me, and said, "Before you lost your memory, you were in love with that boy, Demon."

I nearly choked on my own saliva trying to get Marcus to backtrack and keep in the entire "clueless, I've- never- seen- these- people- before- in- my- life Gabriella" disguise going. "I think that I would remember something like that," I drawled out, looking at Marcus like he had two heads. _YOU CRAZY OLD COOT! HAVE THE SPIDERS EATEN YOUR BRAIN, THEN!_

Marcus looked at me as though I wasn't getting something very important. "You have a very complex history together, and it seems as though you both have developed some feelings for each other along the way. Hurting him would hurt you."

I furrowed my eyebrows in an attempt to not raise an eyebrow and shoot out a sarcastic comment. That would not have been very Gabriella-esque. "But technically, I didn't know that he was even a major part of my life until you told me that he was. So couldn't I have just not felt anything since I was completely oblivious to our history?" _YEAH! TRY AND WEASEL SOME OF YOUR "REASON" INTO THAT, OLD MAN!_

Marcus, to my annoyance, did not stop with the joking, and instead rubbed his temples, muttering something about how I was obviously not understanding the depth of Demon's and my relationship before I became Gabriella and forgot everything about everyone.

I raised an eyebrow at this obvious psycho-maniac. "But wouldn't I feel something if I were in love with him when I saw him? Isn't there some sort of lovey- dovey crap that's supposed to happen when I see someone I love?" _THE SO- CALLED "FEELINGS" THAT YOU'RE SEEING COULD JUST BE THAT WE'VE GOTTEN CLOSE ENOUGH TO CONSIDER EACH OTHER BROTHER AND SISTER, YOU BUTTMUNCH!_

Marcus shook his head, his mind still going a mile a second over the different options that I could have possibly taken. "Not always. Sometimes, there's just a heightened awareness, and you'll do things you wouldn't normally do."

I thought back, then started walking at a slower pace past Marcus, who turned around to walk beside me. "So when everyone got quiet when I touched the dude's face, was that a part of that?" _SAY NO IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE! THERE IS NO LARGE RULE-BOOK THAT SAYS FACE- TOUCHING IS USED BY REPRESSED LOVERS TO EXPRESS THEIR FEELINGS! …Hell, there's not even a book on proper face- touching manners and what they mean. YOU FOOL! STOP LOOKING FOR ROMANCE IN EVERYTHING!_

Marcus nodded, and I sighed. "So, does he know that I'm in love with him?" _Most awkward conversation ever. The amount of hypothetical situation- building that is happening right now is amazing. Because evidently, Marcus's brain has rotted from keeping that seat warm all these millennia._

Marcus shook his head. "There was a lot of skirting around your emotions that happened before you forgot your past, but you both realized that you were in love with each other on some subconscious level."

"Oh," I said, nodding my head absently. _Did I say that I liked you as an uncle because you always told me the truth? Obviously, I lied. Oops. What kind of crazy uncle tries to set you up with your best friend!_

I looked up calmly— _Gabriella would not be freaking out about the story. Valerie, on the other hand, was a completely different species of person when it came to news like that…_— at Marcus, who was maybe three inches taller than I was. "So what do I do?"

Marcus looked at me and pulled me into a one armed hug. That was when I realized that I didn't have a new uncle, but something like a grand-dad. _Lovely. Either way, I have elderly people trying to screw with my head. _"You leave immediately. I don't want you to get hurt. I was in love once, and losing the one you love is easily the worst possible feeling that you could have." _…That's actually kind of decent of him. Now if only what he was saying weren't some sort of impossibility in reality, I would probably feel more sentimental and possibly mushy about it._

I nodded, looking up at him with wide eyes, then pulled away from him as I heard Jane's light footsteps coming down the hall. Marcus rearranged his face to look less like he was panicking and calmly looked at Jane bowing before him. "Jane."

Jane rose back up and pitched me a smile. I smiled back at her, and wrapped an arm around her neck. Jane was Gazzy and Angel's age, and once she got over the fact that I could be immune to her power and I got over the fact that she was a little sadist, we had gotten pretty close. She turned back to Marcus and the smile disappeared. "Felix is back. And Aro would like Valerie in a few minutes, as he is discussing something with Caius."

Gabriella held back a squeal of happiness, but I was busy mulling over the entire being- in- love- with- Demon issue. Gabriella grabbed Jane's hand and ran with her back to the front hallway by the receptionist desk. "YOU'RE BACK!"

I jumped on Felix's back, remembering to move slightly slower just for the sake of the humans in the room. Felix turned around and threw me off his shoulders, and I smiled. "Heya, squirt," he rumbled with his baritone voice, and then he smacked Jane upside the head. "Why the hell didn't anyone tell her that she wasn't really Gabriella?" I frowned. There went Gabriella's only hope of _not_ bluntly ignoring every single person in the castle, since evidently "overprotective brother" Felix was in on the entire Valerie/ Gabriella thing as well. _Which sucked, because Felix is like an older Emmett, and Emmett is usually almost ENTIRELY tactless and open when it comes to secrets because he can never keep them from me._ I let go of Felix and turned around, walking away. Over my shoulder, I called, "Go get the McCarthys. Bring them to the main room. They're going on trial now, since Aro wants me in the conference room. And then after that, I'm going to roast your butt like a chestnut over an open fire for not telling me that you knew."

I ran down the hallway to Chelsea's and my room. She was sitting on my couch—there was no need for even the prop beds that the McCarthys had in the Volturi castle, so we each got a lounging couch—, looking at me and simultaneously looking ready to jump out of the way of any incoming flames that could have been projected her way. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, just get up. If I were going to kill you, I would have rounded up everyone that I wanted to kill in one room and then just done it from there. So watch your back, Chelsea," I muttered under my breath, and I was internally thankful that even though I had put on the part of Gabriella, I was still able to express some of my Valerie anger. If I hadn't, this place would have probably already exploded. _Although then all of our problems would be solved… Nope, it's still wrong._

Chelsea got up with her eyes still wide, and I didn't even bother trying to put her at ease. Gabriella was ticked, and so everyone else was going to watch out because they knew that they'd have hell to pay. Except for Jane, because she and her anti-social brother were pretty much always with the three mafia kings.

I walked with a blank expression, pushing back open the large black doors that were pretty pointless in the doorway leading into the "throne room". Chelsea and I came from one side of the room and Felix walked in with the others from the side door where I'd entered before. Skye was looking at me as though she had no idea what was happening and was blaming everything on me, but mentally, I was attempting to tell her that I was as lost as Fang on a rainbow. At this point, we were just going to have to wing everything and anything that came our way, and hope for the best. Meaning that basically, every single person in the room was dependent on my amazing acting skills to stay alive.

No pressure.

The McCarthys were lined up on the opposite wall, and I watched as Max categorized where would be the best places to make a quick exit, who would be the easier targets to knock out, who would need to be a distraction. I nearly smiled, but then smiling at nothing tends to make people think that you're even more mentally unstable than they previously thought.

Then, right before the door closed, Jane came skipping in, and I heard Skye bite back a growl as she came to stand up right next to me.

Aro, once everyone had been statues for about 1 minute, stood up and attempted to give each of my family members a stern look. It made more than half of them crack up silently and the remaining 8 stood there wondering why the heck the other thirteen couldn't stay quiet and not cause them to die more quickly. Aro, always one for the dramatics, clapped both hands together, and began to speak.

"McCarthy coven—," Carlisle winced at the wording, "—we come here today to try you for attempting to overthrow the Volturi guard. We have been watching you for years, and we realize that your leader, Carlisle Cullen, has been building up an army of you to revolt against the order that has stood for millennia. Do you have anything to say for yourselves?"

Max opened her mouth, but Fang grabbed her hand and dug his nails into it. Max shut up, glaring at him. I smiled. I could have told him that asking the winged section of the accused to say something would have involved curse words, sarcasm, rude hand gestures, or a mixture of all three. I tried hard not to laugh.

Aro looked each of the McCarthys over once more, and then began his speech again. "We ask from now that if you understand that what you have done has been wrong and wish to redeem yourselves in our eyes, that you simply say so. We in the Volturi will always make room for those who repent." _I really want to smack you. Do you realize just how stupid you sound, old man, talking to *these* specific people? Way to research your victims._

No one said anything, so Aro opened his mouth to continue. Obviously, that's when the complete and total BS-ing started happening.

Skye interjected. "For those who repent, I'm guessing they become one of your guards?"

Aro, who looked like he could wring Skye's neck for interrupting him again, nodded once curtly. I hid a smirk, knowing that I had wrestled Skye trying to get her to realize that she had to use sarcasm. _My birdie grew up. I need to give her a hug when all of this is over._ When he realized that nothing else was to be said for now, he kept going. "We already have solid evidence against you, therefore we have no other choice but to set you at rest." My face automatically twisted into a "Please. Just stop talking. You're hurting my ears with the BS your trying to feed me" expression, because I'm pretty sure that Aro had just made up that phrase to make himself sound super important.

But that line was basically my line for jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. "Can I ask what they did wrong?"

Aro looked at me shocked, and Jane gave me millions of little gestures telling me to shut up. "They attempted to overthrow the Volturi."

I pursed my lips. "Their brains say otherwise." I could hear Aro's teeth clench, and he did not look at me, only said, "Gabriella, please light the fire."

And then this was the part where Gabriella flipped a shit and some sort of epiphany moment came to me, where I knew exactly how to get an argument out into the open space. I clenched my teeth and heaved a deep sigh. My eyes snapped to Aro's and I felt my hands start to burn.

"Ok, see_, here's_ the problem with that," I started, and my hands lit themselves on fire. _Lovely. Just what I needed at this point in my wacked up life._ "Firstly, my name is **Valerie**. Say it with me, _**Val-er-ie**_. I'm not Gabriella, and I'm actually sort of_ pissed_ that _every single one_ of you knew that I had no idea what was going on with any of these people, and then I find out, 'Oh, right, well this is my family that I can't remember.' And then the rest of you all figure, 'Hey, well we can all just go and tell Valerie that she's not really Gabriella and then it'll all be fine', go on about your daily routines and I'm left to sit there going '_Why the frick_ didn't anyone tell me that I'm not really this _**golden baby girl**_ that _**every single one**_ of you is attempting to make me?' And then, just because _no one_ takes the fact that _**I HAVE FEELINGS **_into account, everyone expects me to take _the only link_ that I have to my past and then light it up like _**some sort of fucking firework**_! Well, newsflash, _Lord Aro_, I am NOT your little toy. I have a brain, and huh, _surprise of surprises_, I _**don't **_like following your orders. So sit down and shut up, because right about now, I'm _**pissed.**_ Just because I can light things on fire doesn't mean that I like doing it, alright?" I was breathing very hard in the middle of the room by that point, and everyone's eyes were on me. I wasn't screaming, taking a page out of Demon's book and using that really icy tone that I'd heard him use to make people shit a brick. Aro was staring at me wide- eyed, and then I saw Jane flinch and I felt her attempting to knock me out. The good news was that I had a shield up, and I was pretty sure that Bella was shielding everyone behind me.

I went on as though Jane wasn't making me want to jump her with her trying to make me shut up. "And here's the other problem with wiping out these people: what _the fuck_ are we going to do once they're gone? It's not like there's any other coven that's giving grief. That, and we were so focused on getting the McCarthys for so long, we have no idea what the fuck is going on with the rest of the vampire world. We've become so one- track minded that we have absolutely no idea what's wrong with everyone else. So _thanks_, Aro dearest; we've probably lost all control over the vampires everywhere else." I breathed heavily, and couldn't help the sarcasm that I ended up slipping into the end of my speech. I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow, wondering what the hell it was that Aro was going to do next.

Aro still looked shell-shocked that I wasn't one of the air-headed idiots that he had walking around trying to protect him, and surprisingly, Caius was the one who spoke up next.

"Valerie, you're not too far off from the truth. We have been neglecting the rest of the vampire world as of late. Which is why I've been sending out members of the guard to take note of the rest of the world and make sure nothing was wrong." I felt like I had just gotten sucker-punched in the gut. _Caius is the one calling the shots?_

Aro looked like he had no idea what was going on, and I fought to not keel over with the amount of shock that I was feeling and that Jasper was projecting. _Jesus, I will never get the mafia._

_

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**TRA-LA-LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! The newest development in Skye and Valerie's plans. Read it and have a mad, flailing "happy-dance" party. NOW GO FORTH AND REVIEW!**

__**Peace, love, and, "If that is true, I shall cry such tears of happiness that the world has never seen. And then the rainbows shall come out, and there shall be everlasting sunshine, and the unicorns shall use my tears as water!" "...Next time, please get more than 3 hours of sleep.",**

**Skittles**

**P.S. WHO SAW HARRY POTTER ZOMFG? I love Emma Watson. And Rupert Grint is an amazing person whom I want to marry even more than I previously did for the past how many movies. Come on, who didn't fall in love with him after his attempt to turn Wormtail yellow in the first book?**


	48. Heartbreaks Don't Breakeven for My Heart

_**NINE DAYS TIL CHRISTMAS! YAAAAY! HAPPY CHRISTMAHANNUKWANZASTICE! Or, I could have said Happy Holidays, but that's just over-rated, no? Yeah, you totally agree. -nods head coolly-**_

_**Anyways, this is me attempting to make up for Stephanie Meyer's Breaking Dawn. I dislike the Volturi, but I think that Marcus would be a generally nice guy if he weren't missing his wife who'd been murdered by her brother and if he weren't forcibly bonded to the Volturi. Aro just sucks and reminds me of some sort of hyper, bossy evil kid who wants everything in his or her specific way; Caius reminds me too much of Lucius Malfoy to even be thought of as anything resembling good… except for his hair. That's pretty good. Malfoy men have beautiful hair.**_

_**ANYWAYS, so read this now, and I'll just say don't kill me in advance, ok? Kewl.**_

_**DISCLAIMER: Excuse me for a few seconds while I laugh at the absurdity of this possibility: HAHAHAHAHA! HA! Ok, I'm done.**_

_**And now, ON WITH THE STORY!**_

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_**-Skye POV-**_

**We're screwed. Royally screwed.**

I honestly had no idea what the hell was going on anymore. First off, Valerie and I had no idea how to deal with the situations that had arisen: Marcus was the only decent person here, according to what I was getting from Valerie's head; Caius was really the one calling the shots; Aro's Volturi was splitting apart under his nose.

And I had no idea whether these were good things or not.

Secondly, whatever planning we had done had already fallen apart, and so we were just winging it from the moment I opened my mouth**. Although I have to say that Val's much better at winging stuff than I am, if she's able to come up with entire speeches like that one right off the bat. And she makes it look believable, too.** But seeing as I was second in command, as well as the one who had sort of gotten us into this mess in the first place, I had to try and figure something out too, all the while noticing that more vampires from the guard were coming in to watch on the sidelines of "court". And that was when I swore up and down that I was going to end up killing myself, trying to stop the rest of us from _getting_ killed.

"Umm, not to interrupt this lovely moment in time or anything, but I'm sort of more focused on saving my ass," I said, swinging the focus back to me. Aro still looked too shell-shocked to say anything, staring at Caius as though he had two heads. Caius, on the other hand, went on talking to the rest of us with as much control as if he had been the sole one in charge of the Volturi forever. "We would appreciate anyone who decided that they would join the guard in order to pay back the Volturi."

I nodded and stepped forward, pulling Blaze behind me. "I'm willing to try out for the guard."

Jasper let out a little choked noise, Valerie whirled around in shock, and Caius started to smile. It was really, really, creepy. I struggled to not stick my tongue out at him and then run behind Blaze. Instead, I looked up at Valerie's face, and Val then looked behind me at Blaze, who was furiously tugging on my hand, trying to get me to pull back. Valerie slipped back into character, and I heard Mira go, "Oh, my God. What the fuck happened to them…?"

"Fuck no," Val dead-panned. She was glaring at me, and I nearly ducked my head in an attempt to get away from it. Val was seriously scary when she wanted to be. "I'm not about to be on _any_ guard with her. Even if I don't have **the slightest fucking clue** who the frick is running this," Val said, turning back to the Brothers Grimm with a look that could make a grown man pee his pants.

Aro once again opened his mouth to speak, but Caius, without even looking in Aro's general direction, answered to Val. I attempted to suppress a grin. "Valerie, you will not discriminate against potential members of the guard. If she has the ability, then she may join." I fought off the urge to smirk at Valerie, because if I did that, I knew for a fact that I would start to laugh my butt off.

I looked back at Blaze, who had clearly written across his face that he had NO idea what the frick was going on, then back at the rest of my family, giving them my reasoning. "If we all join up with the guard, we don't die. I'd say that it's a pretty good trade," I said, shrugging my shoulders as I tried to pull Blaze along behind me, thinking that he would completely on my side, turning back to face the Volturi.

He stopped after I took three steps, and I tried to look confused. "What's wrong?"

Blaze looked me deep in the eyes, and then he lowered his eyes as he brought his other hand—the one I wasn't holding—to where our hands were connected. One by one, he lifted my fingers from their hold on his hand. Then, he held my hand in both of his, playing with my fingers before slowly pushing my entire hand back towards me. My heart dropped. "Blaze…?"

He blinked a few times, and I looked between his eyes frantically. "What are you do—"

"I fell," he said quietly, bringing one hand to cup the side of my face, "for a shy, amazing, beautiful girl who cared for others and would stand by her family no matter what happened." He was quiet for a second, and his eyes hardened as he took his hand back from my face. A huge pang ripped through my chest, and I nearly staggered as he continued. "You're still beautiful, but I can't pretend to love this person that you've become."

I inhaled sharply, suddenly feeling very small. **This is the wrong time for him to learn to speak. The absolute WORST TIME, and on the WORST SUBJECT. **"Blaze? Please, Blaze, listen to me." I grabbed hold of his hand, unable to believe that this was really happening. It seemed surreal. "You can't go back. This is our only option, any of us. And you don't mean that. You're just trying to cope with the situation. Yeah, that's it," I held his hand tightly, shaking my head and trying to shake off this nightmare. Half of this involved me trying to un-hear what he had just said, and pretend that everything was completely fine between us.

Blaze shook his head too, but for a completely different reason. He pulled back his hand again, and said very slowly, "Three years changed you into someone I don't know. I'm not going to be in love with a stranger. I'd rather love who you were, and not go back on _my_ word." I didn't listen to what he said, or even try to hear what else he was going to say to completely break me down, but pressed my lips desperately to his. The phrase "kiss it better" had never meant more to me than it did at that moment.

I held his face to mine with both hands, silently crying and shaking at the same time. Even as I poured everything into this kiss, he didn't respond to me. It was like I was kissing a stone.

I pulled back, licking my lips and dropping down from tip-toe. My hands slid to grip his shirt front, and I whispered, "You're going to die…"

Blaze pulled back from me, and I felt my hands fall limply to my sides. I looked straight to the ground, and for the first time since becoming a vampire, I felt extremely cold. Blaze's last words in our conversation washed over me like a shot of ice to my spine: "I don't care. You already have."

There was silence for a few seconds, during which I heard Caius opened his mouth to speak but Valerie interrupted him. "Wait."

I heard Valerie's voice coming closer. "So I'm guessing that means none of you are going to join?" She didn't get an answer, and she sighed. I managed to lift my head to focus on her as she walked towards my ex-family. She seemed to be making a bee-line towards Demon. He looked confused as she stopped in front of him, arms crossed over her chest as usual. She looked back at Marcus, who was looking at her as if she had lost her mind, and then lifted a hand to Demon's cheek. I got a sense of déjà vu as I watched them take almost the same position as earlier. She bit her lip, looking uncertain, and then she shot me a mental message: _Don't say a fucking word. It's part of the act._

"Are you sure that you don't want to…?" she trailed off, looking over at me and then shifting her gaze to where Blaze was standing. She shook her head. "Never mind." One thumb stroked his cheek, and then her hand came around and cupped the back of his neck as she pulled him down and pressed his lips to hers. **–Brain shuts down—**

Everyone in the room completely froze, and I could see the shiver go down Valerie's spine as well as feel the wave of heat that she emitted by mistake. Demon had frozen completely, with his eyes closed, and when Valerie pulled back after seven seconds, I was still in shock about what the_** frick**_ had just happened. Valerie's eyes fluttered back open and she focused on Demon's face. Then there was a small, regretful- looking half- grin that made me want to flip, although I wasn't sure for what reason. "Probably should have done that before I lost my memory, huh?" She said, and I nearly fainted. Max's jaw had dropped completely; Nudge collapsed against Iggy's side; Fang's eyes had gone wide.

Then the half- smile on Val's face dropped, and she cursed. "Of _course_…" Then, she looked Demon in the eyes and said, "I'll see you on the other side. You can stop pestering me now, Marcus." Demon still hadn't said a single word, pretty much in a mental coma. Val came down from her tip- toes, turned around, and then started to walk back across the room as though none of it had affected her. _I_ could clearly see that she was mouthing profanities to herself the entire time that she walked back with her hair shielding her face from view.

Caius looked like _he_ had no idea what was going on, and in his moment of temporary weakness, Marcus took over. "Valerie, before you go any further, fight Ms. Skye now so that we know where to put her in the guard. Then show her to her room." He looked at me as though I were a puppy who had just lost its mother. I didn't _need _his pity; I wanted to punch him and then burst into tears.

Valerie shot me a look of loathing, as if she was upset that I had just interrupted her post- kissing- Demon high. I looked at her with a blank expression, then wordlessly started to circle the room and mirror Valerie. _He's only saying it because he doesn't remember it's an act. Remember that, and concentrate. Now, we're going to fight like mad people, and then there's going to be a large fire that's going to break out. Everyone will be separated, and then you're going to make some angry people not so angry at us by making them forget. I'm going to see if I can force some mental blocks on people or possibly distract people enough in a fight to let you get them ._

I didn't think anything back, just lunged at her with all of the fury and hurt and impatience and frustration that I was feeling at the moment. I just wanted to be done with this entire plan and never be involved with the stupid Volturi again. They caused too much pain for their own good, and I was really wondering why Valerie didn't just kill them all. **They've already given us enough grief…**

_That's the pain talking, Skye. Work it out._ Valerie seemed to have shut down any possible emotions that she had and was pretty much functioning like a robot. I took it to mean that she cared. About _what_ at that particular moment she _cared_ about though, I wasn't sure.

We settled into a familiar fight routine, sped up until we were almost blurs to make it seem like we were furious. Then, when I gritted my teeth after flipping sideways in mid-air when Val tried to sweep me from off the floor, I ripped open my wings and flew directly at Jane, who had no idea what the frick was happening with all the fire that suddenly erupted everywhere and the fact that two of the guard suddenly turned into angels. I threw out every memory that she had had after she turned into a vampire, then roughly threw her to the ground as she suddenly got acquainted with her new self, blacking out. I snarled at her, then jumped back into the air and searched for whoever it was that was guarding the Three Musketeers.

* * *

_**-Val POV-**_

_Fuuuuck!_ I was flying above the giant fire that I had created, swooping around and trying to keep an eye on everyone. I was attempting to control the fire surrounding Skye with my hands, but the fact was that I had never controlled this much fire before at once in my existence, and so I was really hurting a lot. I gritted my teeth and surrounded myself in flames again, seeing as Felix was trying to catch me by launching himself off the wall. He glided by me in the air, and a part of his robes caught fire. I put it out quickly- I wasn't about to let anyone die because of me- and turned attention back to Skye, who was trying to get to Alec, the only one in the entire room that was standing still. I saw the fog seep out of nowhere from the area around his legs, and I forced myself to swoop low. Alec couldn't control the fog unless he concentrated, so I swooped in behind him and smacked him upside the head. Skye came dive-bombing in after me and I saw her exhale very fast, working to get Alec out of our way.

Once we had Alec and Jane, it should have been relatively easier. Especially since Emmett suddenly realized that he could join in the complete free- for- all happening in front of him and ran in with Jasper right behind him, making sure that he didn't get his ass killed.

But it wasn't.

Chelsea ran in front of me, and I abruptly created a wall of fire in front of her face. She stopped short, and then Angel came out of nowhere, stared her deep in her eyes, and then Chelsea fell face forward to the ground. I let out a huge sigh and turned to thank Angel, but she was already gone.

I ended up turning right into the fist of Alex, who seemed to have realized that I was not on his side. I ducked and then parried, twirling around and using the advantage of being the lighter vampire with more speed to my advantage. I called over Skye, who quickly blocked whatever it was that she was blocking from his memory, and then let him lie on the floor, his bright- red hair laying around him. I rubbed my hands, still in pain from the fire, and then charged back into the chaos.

Skye was swooping above the rest of us, diving down when she saw someone that she didn't recognize fall to the ground or get captured in a headlock. Emmett had decided that he wanted to settle the "Who's stronger?" problem with Felix once and for all, and Demetri was going all out with Jasper. Alice was only really fighting when she needed to, her psychic powers helping her keep out of the way. Max was running all over the place, Fang two steps behind her. Nudge and Iggy were back to back amidst three guard vamps, but then Angel stepped in and I guess brainwashed the guards. They fell face first onto the floor, and I turned around to come face to face with Blaze. _Awkward…_

Blaze didn't say anything, just looked at me as though he didn't know what to do with me, and not even in the good sense. I held his gaze then looked behind him and noticed that Skye was surrounded. I looked back up at him, shrugged, then pushed past him in an attempt to manually keep Skye somewhat alive. I grabbed the first vampire that I could by the robes and threw him into the wall. Another came up from behind me, and I dropped to the ground in a sweep kick that knocked her right off her feet. She ended up flipping in the air, and I punched her in the stomach, making her collide with Skye from behind. Skye stumbled for two seconds, then reached behind her and threw the same vampire over her shoulder. I spun and kicked someone in the face, then realized that it was Andrew two seconds later. I rolled my eyes. _Never liked him much anyways._

After a nearly fainting from shock after watching Rosalie start beating the dead out of Heidi –_Huh... I guess that she's a decent person, then…_-, I managed to realize that we had pretty much gotten everyone we needed to worry about. Finally, the only ones left were the Three Stooges.

…_Well, Two Stooges and a Groupie._

I landed and walked over a few random bits of rubble that had fallen from the walls and ceiling towards Aro and Caius, who were the only two that I had put together into one bubble of fire and left unattended. I mean, Caius didn't have any special abilities that would make me shake in my boots, and Aro basically had my abilities in a twelve- step program that made them not nearly as strong. And then Skye had taken care of Renata first, so we didn't even have to worry about her.

The two of them said nothing when they saw me walk through the flames, but both blinked simultaneously when they saw Skye land and pull her wings back in. They looked between me and her, and I looked over at Skye, who was still breathing hard. I put a hand on her shoulder, and then she focused her eyes back on what was happening.

Caius spoke first. "So I take it that you were never on our side to begin with, Valerie?" He sounded much calmer about it than I thought he would. It was upsetting; I wanted him to throw a hissy fit. _Jeez, Lucius, ruin my day, why don't you?_

Skye tensed up beside me, and I figured that the word "side" would never mean the same thing to her again. I grabbed her hand, and then looked Caius dead in the eyes. "Why the _shit_ would you think that I would _ever _side with you of my own free will? You're a creepy old man that reminds me of an even creepier book character; I hate you; and usually, if something involves me changing over my side in a complete freak accident that makes me forget everything about myself, _it's too good to be true._

Aro looked between Skye and I and then said, "Well, are you going to kill us then?"

Skye pulled on my arm, but I shook my head. "We don't do murder, unlike some people. The most that I've killed are Flyboys and one super- android; I've only knocked out Erasers. I'm not stooping down to your level, no matter how nice it would be to kill you. But first, Skye?"

Skye pulled her hand out of mine, walked calmly over to Caius and Aro, then hauled back and decked Aro so hard that he flew backwards into his throne. I repressed a giggle, then lunged at Caius and in one graceful swoop, knocked his head so hard to the side that I heard his bones rattle. I landed and Skye had this amazingly self-satisfied grin on her face. "I've wanted to do that for a while now," we both said in unison, and I shot her a smile, mentally telling her to go ahead and just let them forget all about the Volturi and everything that was ever wrong with them. Then I remembered something, and said to Skye, "Wait. I need Marcus for something before you do it."

I waved to the least damaged wall to my right where Marcus was standing, looking significantly more tired than I had seen him before the riot. Thinking that it was just me hallucinating or something, I looked casually around the room at the amount of damage that we'd caused. _Damn. Maybe Aro was a little right in thinking we were building an army…_ Of course, as soon as I stopped trailing my eyes, Demon's eyes were the first ones that I locked on. I attempted to stop vampire- blushing, and turned away immediately. _I am not touching that problem with a thirty- nine- and- a- half- foot pole._

Angel snorted. I resisted the urge to flip her the bird.

I turned to look at Marcus who looked very upset at something. I furrowed both eyebrows. "Marcus…?"

He stepped towards me, and I knew for a fact his eyes looked significantly sadder than before. I took a step towards him, and he took a step backwards, his eyes falling away from mine. I didn't really understand what had happened, so then I did what I did best; ignored it for the moment.

"Aro, don't you have something you want to say to Marcus? And you had better damn well say it, because I'm in the mood for a barbecue, old man," I growled out at Aro, who looked over at Marcus with eyes that held _…Wait a minute, is that remorse?_

Aro sighed and said without beating around the bush at all, "I was the reason Didyme was killed. I did not want either of you leaving." I blinked twice, trying to keep my mouth from hitting the floor. _Hello, tact. How are you? Can you do me a favor and HIT ARO UPSIDE THE HEAD?_

Marcus didn't say anything, just stared at Aro with really sad eyes. "I figured." My head whipped around to face Marcus so fast that I got whiplash. "WHAT?"

I pointed at Aro. "HE _MURDERED_ YOUR WIFE, AND ALL THAT YOU HAVE TO SAY IS _**'I FIGURED'**_? HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND, OLD MAN?" I stopped yelling, glared at Aro, and then walked over and punched Aro in the arm, sending him back a few feet. "THERE! _THAT'S_ HOW WE DO IT IN AMERICA!"

Skye couldn't help herself and busted out laughing. I was still too ticked off at all these weird old men that didn't seem to have any idea of how to handle a loss of their own to laugh. Marcus gave me a small smile, but still made no move to go deck Aro. I threw my hands up in the air, turning around and pacing. _Honestly, I don't understand old man logic._

Finally, I ran one hand down my face and looked at Marcus through my fingers. "Why didn't you deck him? Did anyone stop to think that I might have wanted a grandma?" Everyone gave me a strange look that I ignored, keeping my eyes fixed on Marcus, who smiled still sadly, but with a more serene look to his expression now.

"Because I miss her, but there is nothing that can bring her back. And also, you already punched Aro for me, with more strength than I probably could," Marcus stopped and chuckled. Then, with a sudden look of intense concentration on his face, Marcus looked off to somewhere in the distance, where people were still confused about everything that was happening in the vicinity. "Valerie? Could you set fire to anything?"

I popped an eyebrow up. "Well I sure as hell ain't about to go around and see, am I? But yeah, pretty much. Why?"

Marcus nodded softly to himself, and then turned his attention back to me. He looked very tired and old and fragile, and I suddenly realized that in front of me was a man that had been around for thousands of years. I hadn't really caught that before because Marcus never looked his age; as I looked at him though, he seemed to suddenly age horribly in a matter of seconds. "I want you to kill me."

I took a few steps back, my knees failing me for a few seconds. "EX_CUSE_ ME?"

Marcus smiled and repeated his insane wish as if he were only talking about the weather or something. _Yes, lovely sun we're having. Too bad that we can't go outside, though. Oh, and did you know that I'd like it very much if you were to SET ME ON FIRE?_ "I would like to die, and you can help me."

I flailed my hands all over the place, not even knowing how to respond to that. And I told him so: "I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO RESPOND TO THAT, YOU BATTY OLD MAN!"

Skye, who seemed to be taking this better than I did, quietly said, "We don't turn into bats, Val…"

I threw her a glare, let out a keen shriek, then whirled around on Marcus again. "You're out of your bloody mind! I'm not about to kill anyone just _**because I can!**_ Especially someone that I actually care about! WHAT THE FRICK POSSESSED YOU TO SAY THAT!" As anyone could see, I wasn't taking the news well.

Marcus chuckled, and said, "I expected that you'd say that. But Valerie, I would like to die now. I've had a few nice millennia, but I miss Didyme, and I think I'd like to join her now."

I was very openly not listening, with my hands over my ears. When I saw his mouth stop moving, I uncovered my ears and said, "YOU'VE got a great- granddaughter that you need to meet before you go ahead and decide you want to kick the bucket. And plus, I'm not doing it. I refuse to kill people who I know and who I've had conversations with. Jesus, I hate these powers sometimes," I muttered the last part to myself, turning around and going over to where the rest of the Volturi who used to be Volturi but no longer could remember were. I absently rubbed my hands together, my fingers still twitching uncontrollably from the amount of pain that I was in. I clenched my fists twice and hoped that no one noticed.

"Val, what do you want me to do with these two?" Skye called out to me, and I shrugged. "I dunno. Surprise me. Oh, and make it good." Skye let out a little chuckle under her breath, and I knew that those two were going to be in a boat- load of trouble when Skye was through with them.

I turned to what was left of the guard, and realized that they all looked genuinely like better people now. _I KNEW it was the cloaks…_ "Hiya."

Jane's hand shot up, and she started to speak. "Umm, where are we?" She sounded like she was trying to be tough, but the way that she was sort of checking out everything around her made me want to smile. Instead, I answered her. "Italy."

A few of them gasped, then looked around at everyone else and gasped again. Alec, who looked much more social now than when I had ever known him, looked at me as though I had two heads, stepping slightly in front of Jane as if to protect her. "How did we get here?"

I smiled at him. They reminded me of Gazzy and Angel. And then I had to think more about what strange story I could tell them so that they didn't think that I was crazier than I really was. I looked over at the McCarthys, and Angel was standing there thinking something to me about "Victoria". And then it hit me, and I sent her a mental thanks.

"You were kidnapped by this crazy woman named Victoria. She wanted you all to build her an army, and you guys didn't know what to do, since you were all human at the time, but you knew that what she was doing was wrong. So then, you all were changed, but then she was killed by the vampire police because she was breaking pretty much every law, and we stayed with you guys while they took her away." I smiled brightly at the end of my story, and then looked over at Aro and Caius.

Both were looking at me like they wanted to wring my neck. I gave them the brightest smile that I could muster, and then Angel stepped forward. "I'll help out." She skipped over to where Aro, Caius, Marcus and Skye were standing, and then looked Aro and Caius deep in the eyes. I don't know what she said to them, but once she turned away from them, they looked like they were in a completely different world. I raised an eyebrow at her, but she simply smiled and said, "They're alright now." I raised an eyebrow, and then turned back to the now homeless guard. _Shit, I didn't think of that…_

Then, snapping out of whatever trance they were in, Caius smiled brightly. As I felt the shiver travel down my spine at the sight of his grin, I felt the knee- jerk reaction to punch him. Hard. _I've never claimed to be perfect. Just to like punching people._

"Welcome to Volterra! My name is Aro, and this is my brother for all intents and purposes, Caius." I noticed that he completely left out Marcus, and I don't think that either noticed the other old man in the cloak beside them. I raised an eyebrow at Angel, silently asking her what the hell she'd done. She didn't answer, so I turned back to the two transformed serial killers, hoping to get some clues from them.

"We were hoping that you would join the Vampire Police. We need more in our number, you see, and seeing as Valerie's leaving us soon, we need some to replace her. She is an amazing woman, but she is now moving on to better things," Caius said, and I blinked twice, unable to believe that those words were coming out of Caius' mouth. The man hated everyone except for his wife, who I'm pretty sure he had locked up somewhere, so that didn't really help my opinion of him. _He's a maniaaaac…._

Before my day could get any weirder or something could go terribly wrong, I grabbed Skye and Marcus by the arms and pulled them out of there faster than I could say "leaving". Over my shoulder, I threw back the words, "Happy Holidays!"

Aro called after me, "Please, Valerie! Stop by at any time!"

I shuddered and then ushered the McCarthys out the door. I let go of Skye and Marcus halfway to the exit and almost flew down the hallway. _The sooner we get out of this damn castle, the better. Three months is more than enough._

_

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_

_**-Four Hours Later—**_

_I'm on a plane. The amount of irony in this situation is completely astounding, and I'm __**still**__ on a fricking plane._

I was sprawled across two chairs with my head on Skye's lap, and she was staring quietly out the window. I had my headphones in my ears- Skye had given me back my iPod which had been in her pocket for the entire time-, and I was attempting to drown out everything that anyone was saying. Marcus was sitting up straight in the seat in front of me- he was the one that had somehow convinced us all to get on this tiny jet- and as I basically glared at the back of Marcus' seat, I let out another angry sigh.

Marcus was the grand-father of the crazy family that I had gotten myself attached to. I wanted him to meet Kami, but I didn't want him to be miserable because I was the one keeping him alive against my will. Plus, he drank human blood, and I wasn't sure how that was going to work out since I sure as hell was not letting him take a bite out of what he thought was Kami the Cheeseburger.

But he wanted me to _kill him_. I didn't just go around roasting people; the most that I'd ever done was set fire to a few androids and the fur of some Erasers. Yes, I was off my rocker sometimes, but that doesn't mean that I wanted to kill anyone that hadn't hurt me first. And now I was being asked to take someone's life because they wanted to die, and I, quite frankly, had no idea what the frick to do.

Plus, there was the entire little problem about how I was most likely roasting myself from the inside out, so I had no idea how I would be able to kill Marcus –_wince_- if he asked me because I was pretty much burning out my own arms. They still hadn't stopped shaking and randomly twitching, so I knew that before anything happened with Marcus, I'd have to go and see if Exie could fix me.

Then, on the topic of fixing, I'd have to tell the rest of the family exactly what the hell Skye and I were doing. They weren't speaking to either Skye or me, and so they were all crowded in the back of the plane away from Marcus and the two of us. They didn't know the whole story because none of us had ever directly told them, and so now I had a heartbroken Skye on one hand, angry relatives on the other hand, and then the ultimate problem that was sitting in front of me and staring me in the face with a horrible grin: Demon's and my relationship. Which I planned to avoid talking about or even coming close to mentioning with the stealth and ability of a ninja.

Unfortunately, as soon as I even thought that, I could feel the wave of heat that I accidentally flashed through the plane and the shudder- _WHY WON'T YOU GO AWAY?_- ran down my spine again for the umpteenth time. I turned myself into a ball and stared at nothing, trying not to think over my complete and total mental breakdown right before the riot. _I mean, that would be the only reason to explain why the hell I'd up and KISSED DEMON._

I was a firm believer that sometimes, I had no control over my own body. The kiss was obviously one of those times. I rubbed my eyes, feeling mentally exhausted.

_One day, I'm just going to bury myself under a rock and hope that everything's sorted out without my having to do anything. If that could happen with the Demon situation right now, that'd be great. No? Well, jeez, Jesus, I thought we were on the same side here…_

I forced all thoughts of Demon out of my head— _surprisingly hard to do, especially after not seeing him for three years and then suddenly in the middle of THE MOST AKWARD SITUATION TO EVER OCCUR BETWEEN THE TWO OF US_— and attempted to think more about what the eff was going to happen in relation to anything. We couldn't even celebrate properly about no longer being on the Italian mafia's hit list because more than half of the people involved still had no idea what was happening. And as if that weren't bad enough, I was on a plane, beginning to get claustrophobic, and I had three and a half more hours to go of thinking these things over to myself since no one was talking at all.

_By the time this plane ride is over, I will have thought my way into an asylum. Joy of joys. Excuse me for a second; it seems that I've spilled sarcasm all over the floor._

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_**And here is the end of this chapter. Review please. Thanks! Oh, and don't kill me.**_

_**Peace, love, and, "Wait, isn't that like a bunch of fairies angrily kicking you in the face?",**_

_**Trixie (from "American Dragon Jake Long". I'm having an identity crisis over here. I love too many characters to pick one to be full time…)**_


	49. Fixing Problems with BS Duct Tape

**_Tra-la-laaa! (CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS! Ok, I'm done.) I'm back! Happy first update of 2011! YAAAY! Sorry I couldn't update sooner; there was a giant miscommunication between my teachers and me that resulted in too many essays over break due in the same week, and a pile of tests waiting to be taken. Boo- face to them. But I handed in my art history paper today (NEVER AGAIN!), and so this was my first priority after I slept on the train for a good hour to make up for the 12 hours of sleep this week._**

**_DISCLAIMER: 2012 hasn't come yet, no matter what Jay Sean sings._**

**_And now, ON WITH THE STORY! _**

**_

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_**

**_-Val POV-_**

So, 6 hours and the absolute worst (and only) plane ride that had ever happened to me later, things still hadn't gotten any better: No one was speaking to each other; Skye was basically drowning in depression beside me; Marcus still wanted to die; I had still kissed Demon.

No problem had disappeared, no matter how much I may have wanted them to. And then, to top it all off, we had landed, and were now in front of the Refugees' new place in California. I had to now pull off the entire "I have everything under control" act in front of 10 more people, and still manage to make it seem as if I knew what the frick was going to happen if I introduced Marcus to everyone or got stuck in the same room as Demon._ Funny how I really have *no* plan of action for this. Thank Jesus that I do better without a plan._

I pulled Skye by the hand behind me to knock on the door, and she somewhat stumbled forward as her eyes suddenly refocused and then she went back into the shell that she had built for herself. I swore under my breath, because _Skye_ of all people didn't deserve _any_ of this. She and Blaze were pretty much the best functioning couple that we had in the group, as well as the most level-headed one. I nearly shat a brick when Blaze dumped her, and the immediate effect on Skye was _horrible_. The girl was emotionally out- of- whack, and I had no idea what the _fuck _to do about it.

So that was when I, amazing person that I am, decided that I would thoroughly kick Blaze's ass for him (and Skye, because she wouldn't be the one to do it on her own) once we had everything sorted out. I had no idea how to handle this situation now, so once we got everything working and back to normal, then it would be _significantly_ easier to force him to wear his ass for a hat.

I knocked on the door another time, rolling my shoulders back as I felt all the gazes of the angry and/ or confused family members behind me bore into my back. I didn't hear anyone move to the door, but then it flew open without warning. I threw a kick with my left foot into the person's side and my right fist lit up, ready to come around in a punch immediately after I pulled my foot back. At the same time, I grabbed a punch with my left hand that was inches from my face. Finally breaking the habit, I registered that it was Gina who had attacked me, and I raised an eyebrow at her.

The murderous expression on her face dropped, and then she shook her head, saying, "One of these days, you're going to get yourself _killed_ when you don't say who the frick you are before you get to our door." I shrugged, pulling my foot away from her side where she was blocking it at the same time that she pulled her fist back. I put out the involuntary fire that had covered my other hand, and immediately stuffed both hands into my pockets. They were uncontrollably, violently twitching now, and I could see the burn marks that were beginning to cover the palms and backs of my hands. _I'm screwed if I can't find Exie._

"But that day isn't today," I said in response to Gina with a completely fake smile that I couldn't even fully make. Gina looked at me suspiciously_- Thank God. I would have been so ashamed of you if you really believed that bull- crap smile. You know me better than that,_- and I pulled her into a hug to throw her off base. "We're back."

She hugged me back, and I silently threw up a little "Thank you" to whoever it was that had made sure that she hadn't noticed my hands. I smiled over her shoulder at Nate, Mini, and Collin, who seemed to be the back-up if Gina couldn't handle whatever the hell it was that had been outside their door.

I pulled back from her hug, a genuine question forming in my head: "Who the hell were you expecting?"

Gina just shrugged, the smile still on her face, and I rolled my eyes, pulling back from the hug entirely. Then Kami's now nine- year- old face poked around the corner of the doorway, and I had to pretend to stumble backwards as she crashed into me. She'd gotten taller, and now she looked like her own person instead of just like Demon with a little bit of me thrown in for good measure. I hugged Kami to me, and realized that even though she wasn't even 10 yet, I was going to be forced to beat boys back with a broomstick when she was older. _Lovely..._

I was interrupted from my thinking when Kami said, "Hi, Mom! How was your trip?" It made me almost smile to see that she was the same curious girl that I'd left behind three months ago._ Good to know that some things haven't changed…_

I shrugged, that stupid happy smile-_ I sure as hell don't FEEL happy. I feel like a pile of elephant crap that's been run over by an eighteen-wheeler truck carrying a few dozen pianos. Set to puree- _still on my face. Skye was standing there, a small fake smile on her face that made me want to puke. We'd won, and I felt absolutely _terrible_. We'd managed to take down the freaking government of the vampire world, and I felt like completely tired- out crap. _…tired- out crap that was still smoldering after being torched._ My brain was racing and I felt everyone's eyes boring into my back as I searched for an answer to Kami's question that didn't say outright that I hadn't been able to remember anything for the first two months and three and a half weeks before Skye came, and then I'd completely hated everything.

I sighed, ruffling Kami's hair. "It was all right, sweetheart. But how was it here without Auntie Skye and me?" And then, as I stood there, I tried not to completely and totally have a meltdown as the realization of how much I had lied to Kami throughout her childhood hit me. What kind of _crap mother_ was _I_ that I missed _3 months _of my kid's life? Not even mentioning the years that I had missed when she was _younger. _And then I had come back after three months with every single family member under the sun and _no _explanation.

_Shit, I'm permanently screwing up my kid. And I haven't even told her the whole truth. And why the frick am I suddenly aware of every little thing that's been happening to me?_

About two minutes after I realized that I was crap at this parenting thing, Kami realized that there were more people behind me and quickly hugged Skye before making her way to the rest of the people. The first thing that I heard her say was, "Daddy!" I winced, then walked mechanically past Collin, Nate, and Mini further into the house where I knew that the kitchen was. I pulled a bottle of "Gatorade" out of the cupboard then sat at the three- chaired table, putting my head in my arms. I had never more wanted to crawl under a rock and just die. I had screwed up any and all relationships within my family, my best friend wasn't going to talk to me because of the awkward situation that I had made, my best girl friend was now depressed because of her boyfriend dumping her, I might have been forced to kill my surrogate grandpa, and, to top off the crap sandwich that was my life, we had the newly- realized problem that I was a horrible lying mother to my kid._ Eff my life._

And with that little reminder, I put down the bottle of Gatorade, put my head in my hands, and just started to scream as loudly as I could.

There was a flurry of movement down the hallway, and I stopped my yelling abruptly. I calmly picked back up the blood bottle and took a long drink. Skye, Gina, and Nate came flying through the door, wide-eyed, and I put down the bottle to raise an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

Nate and Gina looked confused, but Skye looked… blank. "We thought we heard someone scream," Nate explained, looking around the room. I blinked once then shrugged, standing up and saying, "Can't help you there. But do you know where Exie is?" I put my hands back into my pockets and went in the direction that Gina pointed.

**You're not fooling me.** Skye's voice floated into my head, and I stiffened for a millisecond as I passed her in the doorway. I kept going as though nothing had happened, but sent back to her, _It doesn't matter if I don't fool *you*. It's *everyone else* I'm worried about._

Sometime after I got my hands healed, I was going to sit down and have a long, well-earned scream fest with Skye.

I called out to Exie mentally, and she pretty much popped out of nowhere as soon as I finished saying her name. "You rang?" she asked, and I tried to smile at her without giving anything away. "Yeah, could you take a look at me for a second?" I pulled my hands out of my pockets and calmly showed her both my hands. Exie looked about ready to start hyperventilating.

They were still twitching, and in some places the skin looked weirdly darker. My hands didn't look too bad, but since I'm a vampire and Exie knew about my slight pyromaniac tendencies, she started freaking out as soon as she could remember how to move again. She looked frantically between my face and my hands a few times before settling on my face and yelling completely out of the blue, "DEMON!"

My eyes widened and I shook my head frantically- _I'M NOT PREPARED FOR THIS!_-, cursing when Demon appeared and looked at Exie from the doorway. "Hey, Exie. What's up?" I did everything to avoid his eyes when he looked at me, but then the stupid venom went back to my cheeks where I was pretty sure that it had decided to make a vacation home.

Exie took no notice of the obvious tension between us or the temperature spike, rounding on Demon fully, one hand on her hip and the other pointing at him angrily. "Don't you 'What's up?' me! I thought that you were going to _take care_ of her, you idiot!" Exie yelled at him, and his eyebrows furrowed. Exie kept going, now poking him in the chest. A roar of something went through my chest, and I gritted my teeth. "Since when does **allowing her **to get _burned _qualify as watching her?" Demon's eyes flew to mine, and I tore mine away with a rather embarrassing amount of effort._ Can you not feel the mental vibes that I'm sending you telling you to STOP LOOKING AT ME?_

The room was quiet, and I spoke up._ Might as well get this out of the way now. _"He had no idea until you just told him, Ex." I pushed my bangs out of my eyes, looking only at Exie and nowhere near the general side of the room that Demon was on. If I did, I didn't know _what_ would happen.

_Huh. That seems to be what's happening with EVERYTHING nowadays…_

I kept going, figuring that if I was going to dig myself into a hole, I might as well make myself a _comfortable_ hole. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure that I've been using too much fire at once, so I sort of need you to heal my hands and make sure that I haven't turned my insides into the sun, all right?" I said bluntly, and Exie blinked twice at me before cursing. "Come here, you idiot."

She tugged me closer by the hands and immediately I felt the effects. My hands felt really cold, and sort of tingly, but Exie didn't move her hands back until after about twenty seconds or so. Then she looked up at me and said, "There. DON'T GO DOING ANYTHING STUPID!"

At the same time, Demon and I muttered under our breath, "Too late." I felt my head start to turn in his direction, but I pulled back fast and kept my eyes glued to my hands.

Exie let out a sigh, then smacked me upside the head. "Hey!" "I'm getting you a lighter from now on. You have _no_ concept of what is a bad thing to do sometimes, do you?"

Quicker than I could answer, Demon interjected, "No, she doesn't." I could hear the underlying meaning behind his tone, and I gritted my teeth. Sometimes it sucked having to think things through before you shot things back at people to avoid (further) screwing up a situation.

Like right now, for example.

"**_Sometimes_**, in that moment, things seem like they're going to work out **perfectly fine**, which is why I do them,_" _I answered quietly. Demon snorted. "Sometimes, you completely**_ screw up everything _**by thinking that things will turn out fine. Even **you **have to admit that plans have gotten you into bad situations before, haven't they? Not to mention how _confused _**some people **usually end up when they aren't fully in on a plan, right?" I clenched my hands into fists at my sides, convinced that I could hear him gritting his teeth. It _sucked_ that I couldn't just _punch _him outright the way that I wanted to because Exie would have no idea what was going on. _Yet another ass to kick once we get out of this situation. Noted to self…_

I spoke slowly and softly, which helped to clue Demon in that I was ready to _rip him in half_, since he didn't seem to be getting the message already. "Even _you_ have to admit, _Demon_, that plans usually end up working out _completely fine_ regardless of who knows _what_—"

"OK, I'll be leaving now," Exie interrupted, obviously feeling that someone was going to explode soon. _Hint: It's the girl with the pyromania issues**.**_ She walked quickly out of the room, and two seconds into staring at the empty spot where she used to be standing, I realized that I was alone in a room with my best friend who I'd lied to and kissed less than twelve hours earlier. My eyes widened, and I looked at the door that had now closed. My eyes caught Demon's, but I managed to rip my gaze from his and took note of the fact that there was a window on the other side of the bed that was in the middle of the room. I spared a quick glance at Demon's face, then flat- out bolted towards the window. Demon- _Stupid long legs…-_caught me mid-air as I dived over the bed and we tumbled in a circle off the edge and onto the floor. He let out a small "Oof" as I landed on top of him. I squeezed my eyes shut, and attempted to jump off of him as soon as possible without looking him in the eyes.

And right on cue, as I opened my eyes a little to see what the heck I was doing, I let out another little wave of heat that I saw move his hair. I scrambled up faster, pissed that I couldn't just be completely unaffected by this like he seemed to be. But of course, since this was Demon we were talking about, I got to the point where I was down on one knee and ready to push into a standing position before Demon pulled me back down and under him. I let out a squeak and my eyes flew wide open.

Demon looked at me, I looked at Demon… Basically, for the next thirty seconds, it was a mad looking party. The happy drunken kind, too_! ...Lies. Lies, sarcasm, and deceit._

Then I flung Demon off of me_- WOOH! THANK YOU VAMP STRENGTH!-_and got up as fast as I possibly could. "Not in the mood, D," I muttered, trying to get to the door.

I got three steps before a hand wrapped around my wrist. "That's too bad," Demon said as I stared at the hand that was preventing me from leaving immediately.

Choosing to ignore the fact that he had stolen my line, I grounded out, "Demon,**_ let go _**of me."

The grip tightened, and then he threw me a complete curve-ball: "You kissed me."

I froze. The world froze. It was a freezing party! _…Damn it. I've got to stop that._

Deciding to throw one problem out the window, I twirled my arm in a wide circle, hoping that he'd let go. He didn't; instead, there was a flurry of movement, and then I found myself in front of him with his hands burning around my waist. He let out a breath of cool air, and I struggled to keep the vampire blush down. Demon looked me deep in the eyes, and I didn't know what to do except stand there likesome sort ofidiot with_ no_ idea of what to do when he opened his mouth again. Demon sounded a bit annoyed**. **_Oh, fun! Join the __club!_ "Now, let's try this again. Preferably without you running from the problem: you kissed me."

I stiffened, and suddenly everything seemed to be in high definition. I remembered every detail of the seven seconds that I was attached at the lips to him:what he _smelled _like, _felt _like ,_tasted _li**_—_**

"You know, we could talk about this some other time," I said as soon as I'd cut myself off in my head. I'd tried to push away from him, my hands on his chest, but he pulled me closer, and I glared at the dark blue shirt he was wearing._ No, Val. Killing people is bad._

_Kudos to Skye, who sort of beat it into me that punching the problem only makes it swell, not go away._ "_Or_," Demon started with a mocking chuckle, "we could talk about it _right now_. **Before **you go ahead and push me away, then start avoiding me." My hands curled into fists, and I opened my mouth to say something, but Demon beat me to it.

"Oh, no.** You **don't have the right to be angry _with me_. If** anyone **should be pissed off at anyone, it should be _me_, Valerie." I was a bit thrown when he wasn't throwing some sort of explosive hissy fit, but I didn't think about it for long. Instead, I took a deep breath and attempted to calm myself down.

I flexed my fingers and counted backwards from thirty in my head, lightly drumming on his chest while I did so. I felt Demon shiver, but I didn't pay him any mind._ Too bad if you're uncomfortable, you buttmunch. Welcome to the freaking club._

Abruptly, I leaned back and glared Demon in the face for a few milliseconds. Screw Skye's technique of not yelling at people until it was really necessary; this time, I was pretty sure that it was _damn necessary_. _...I'm a hopeless case at this whole "non- violence" thing. _"Ok, so here it is straight, _buddy_. Skye came up with part of the plan to go and screw up the Volturi. We worked on perfecting it for two years, and then put it into action. Once you guys got there, and we'd found out that you all were ok, that was nice and all, but we had no idea what the **frick** to do from there because nothing was working. So we started BS-ing our way through everything, starting with blowing up at Aro. After that, it was all _acting**. Including **_the kiss."

Demon opened his mouth to interrupt me, but I held up a hand, telling him to shut the frick up. _Can't you see that I'm on a rant here_? "There was no way for me to tell you before- hand that I was going to kiss you, since I had to pretend as though I didn't know you and if Aro accidentally touched me, then we were all screwed. So then we erased one of your memories and I dragged you into it because of something that Marcus said to me about a minute before we'd gotten to the giant meeting hall thing that made everything more authentic. So then I kissed you, and there was**_ no real feeling _**behind that, _all right_? And plus, as my male best friend, you have the obligation to be there for me to kiss if the situation ever comes up. So**_ stop _**acting like it took you by surprise. It was going to happen anyway._ There. _**That's**your can**_ stop _**talking about it now.**_ Problem fricking solved."_**

I finally broke free of his arm prison and walked out of the room, feeling much more wound up than when I had walked in there. Either way, I mentally checked that conversation off my list, and ignored the sudden tingling in my mouth area. _One down, several to go._

I walked down the main hallway into the living room where I heard everyone was and looked at all the facial expressions. Leaning against the doorway, I crossed my arms over my chest. "All right. Shoot."

After every single detail of Skye and my faces had been analyzed, and Skye had retreated back into her bubble, Carlisle finally said, "I don't even know where to start… how were you two…?"

I looked down at Skye, who stared blankly down at her shoes where she was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of me, and sighed. This was evidently our beginning, and _evidently _Skye wasn't going to be very helpful to me in this situation. I took a deep breath and started**_._**

After going through everything once, I looked around at everyone, their eyes still on me. "So, that's the story?" Rosalie said. I snapped my head to look at her. "Did I stutter?" I asked harshly. I was stressed, and I really wasn't in the mood for anything she had to say to me.

The only thing that I had left out was the entire Marcus situation for the Refugees. I had dropped him off at a motel and told him to wait. After I had thought it through for six hours, I wasn't sure that I should have brought him to the hide-out, so I'd shooed him out of the picture. _Plus, the guy's suicidal. I don't even know how long he's going to stick around for._ I sighed, and checked "tell family full story" off of my mental list of "Things Valerie Needs to Do to Get Her Life Back To Normal-ish". I just wanted to fix everything quickly so that we could all go about our lives without worrying too much or hating each other. So I had to move on as quickly as possible to each thing on the list.

Meaning that now, I had to deal with Marcus. The one person that I wasn't looking forward to seeing at all, even thinking of what the consequences could be if I didn't. I sighed, but pushed off of the wall and walked back down the long hallway. I rolled my neck once and opened the doorway slowly. Checking either side of me to make sure that no one was in the alleyway, I quickly took off in the direction of the actual city.

Fifteen minutes later, I was in front of Marcus's hotel room, waiting for him to answer the door. I had had to do some lock picking to get into the hotel in the first place from the roof, and I was getting annoyed that Marcus wasn't answering his blasted door.

So I did what any self- respecting vampire bird- girl would do: I kicked it down. And then proceeded to freak the shit out when I smelt the smoke inside the hotel room.

"MARCUS?" I yelled, running into the room. "WHERE ARE YOU?" I couldn't smell him, but that was probably because of the smoke that was all over the place. I ran to the kitchenette where the stove's fire was turned up to blazing, and I briefly wondered who the hell was in charge of making sure that the smoke detectors worked properly so that I could kick their asses from here to kingdom come. Thinking clearly for a few seconds, I searched for him mentally, and I was thankful as anything when I didn't hear his mind anywhere in the apartment. Then, I gingerly reached for the stove switch and turned off the massive fire that had managed to scorch its way up the wall. I surveyed the damage, and hoped that no one had seen me walk in here. _Yeah, that could get a little problematic if people thought that I'd started a hotel fire…_

And then— because God really hated me, I was convinced— the sprinkler system came on. I cursed like a sailor— water and I never mixed well— and ran across the room, opened the window, and leapt out. Landing on the roof next door, I looked around before calling out to Marcus mentally and expecting an answer.

I picked up on him after about ten seconds and launched myself in the direction of the pier, a few blocks away from where I was standing.

I landed beside him, staring out at the ocean. Marcus had changed into a suit, finally taking my advice when I told him that he was going to look completely out of place walking around in a giant cloak in the middle of seventy- something degree and up weather. He didn't say anything, so we stood in silence for a while, not moving. Once the sun came back up onto the horizon, I started the conversation. "You tried to kill yourself."

Marcus was silent, and I chanced a glance at him. He was nodding.

I kept talking. I had no idea where this conversation was going, but I figured that it was probably best that I rolled with whatever came to mind. "But then you left before you could go through with it."

Marcus turned to look at me, but I kept looking out at the ocean. "I figured that I owed you a goodbye."

I snorted. "Yeah, well thanks for that."

It was quiet, and then I opened my mouth again. "So... do you still want to die?" _Say no. Say no, Say no…_

Marcus burst my mental hope bubble with his next words: "My answer hasn't changed, Valerie."

I flinched, and my stupid chest constricted and my eyes started to burn. I **didn't want** to kill Marcus. What person in their right mind would _voluntarily_ want to **take someone's life**? …But he _honestly_ wanted to die, and… I mean, if I could be doing something _right_ for him, then…

And it wasn't in me to force someone to do something that they didn't want to do. Unless that person was evil, or someone close to me that I bossed around on a regular basis.

I let out a sigh. I would **finally** be doing something right for someone in someone's eyes. And it was ultimately up to Marcus if he wanted to live, right? _Damn it. This is why I'M not God._

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**_-Twenty Minutes Later—_**

It was hot. And if I didn't hate water so much, I would have jumped into the water. But instead, I kept looking out at the ocean, the heat pounding down on me. Marcus had left a while ago, so I was all alone. The beach was still empty, and I realized that by this time, the others- _or Skye, at least_- would have probably been worried sick. I stood up from where I had sat down on the sand. I wiped off my face, rubbing my eyes, and walked towards the sidewalk. I pulled my hat farther down over my eyes and didn't look at the burning abandoned warehouse beside me.

_Someone should notice that soon enough,_ I thought to myself, and then I took off._ Bye._

I felt sick as I landed on autopilot in front of the hideout. I swung the door open and immediately collapsed in the first bed that I made my way to. I didn't even know that I was crying until I heard Skye get onto the bed, rubbing my back. I curled into a ball and fisted my hands in the sheets.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, my voice raspy. I wasn't sure what had brought it on, but I was _done_ with trying to think things through after the fact to fix them. Look where _that_ had gotten me.

Skye froze for a good minute, and then deadpanned, "Marcus is dead, isn't he?" **You've *never* said that before...**, she thought absently to herself.

I winced, and that was answer enough for her. She kept stroking my hair, and we didn't move for the rest of the morning.

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**_Now leave me a review and tell me what you think. It would make me super happy, as well as successfully distract me from having to go back and do my English essay that's due next week. You would be doing me that world's greatest favor. Honestly. And yes, I am a procrastinator._**

**_Another little message- there is around 5- chapters- worth of stuff left of Dancing with Fire. I'm going to cry like a baby when I have to finally end this. But we won't dwell on that. I'm just letting you know in advance that it's coming to a close. NOW REVIEW!_**

**_Peace, love, and:-_**

**_Bugsy: -looking at me dancing to the radio on New Year's Eve- "…Oh my gosh. You're going to be a bar dancer when you're in college."_**

**_Me: -gasp- "How did you know how I was going to pay off my debts in college?"_**

**_Bugsy: -face palms-_**

**_Skittles31 xoxo_**


	50. Shut Up and Let Me Let You Go

_**Happy Belated Mother's Day!**_

_**Yes, Mother's Day. The word "mother" is used in Mother's Day. Also used in the phrase "HOLY MOTHER OF JESUS! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN FOR THE PAST FOUR MONTHS?"**_

_**Yeah, that mother.**_

_**But DON'T KILL ME. It's not my fault that for some reason my school dumped a truckload of homework crud on me. And then Fanfiction wouldn't let me upload documents. So as of RIGHT NOW, this is officially NOT MY FAULT. ...And stop glaring at the screen. It will not help to have the computer explode from the force of your glare. So just read calmly, and don't shoot me through the screen. It would probably hurt. A lot. And my history teacher would hear me scream and wonder what I'm doing on my computer that I screamed so loudly. Since I'm in history class, and this is proving my love to all of you. TO THE DISCLAIMER!**_

_**DISCLAIMER: Four months of soul- and- document searching, and still no legal papers. I feel as though this is a government conspiracy...**_

_**And now, for the first time in months, ON WITH THE STORY!**_

* * *

_**-Max POV-**_

"Are you angry?" Fang asked, sitting on the ground and propped up against the edge of the roof that I was leaning on. He hadn't let me out of his sight for more than 3 minutes since we had gotten back together. He was sparkling –three words I never thought that I'd ever say—, and he looked up at me from under his bangs. I was kneeling with my forearms hanging over the edge of the roof, staring out at the water. A fire had broken out in one of the old, abandoned warehouses on the water-front, and I watched as the final little clouds of black smoke rose into the air. The fire department had finally managed to put it out.

I cocked my head to the side at Fang's words- that was the first thing that he'd said to me since he had come up here hours ago- and furrowed my eyebrows. If I was going to be honest, I had no idea if I was angry or not.

So I shrugged. I didn't like getting into the details when I didn't know them myself. All I knew was that it was awkward around Val and Skye now. They had gotten closer, yeah, but then they had come up with this entire elaborate plan of action that really made me sort of… I guess the word was "on-edge". I knew that they had done everything to make sure that the rest of us didn't end up six feet under, but then the fact that they had blatantly lied to us and then screwed around with our memories…

It just felt weird knowing that they could mess with my head without restriction. Yeah, it was nice knowing that I wasn't gonna kick the bucket _officially_, but that really was weird, knowing that people had to mess with my head to keep me from dying.

Fang's gaze kept burning into the side of my face for a few seconds, and then he stood up. "It was the same thing when Angel went "bad", you know."

I looked up at him. He mimicked my position- forearms on the ledge, leaning on the edge of the roof- and looked straight out at the smoldering buildings. "We had no idea what was going on—Nudge, Iggy, Gazzy, and me. And you guys had this plan that had to keep it like that, with us standing there wondering what the hell was going on." Fang looked at me out of the corner of his eyes, waiting for my reaction.

I felt the need to shrug again, so I did. _**Huh. Almost forgot about that. **_"That's why I get what they're saying. It's just to think that Skye could tweak memories and make us believe things hadn't happened when they did… It's like mind control." My eyebrows drew together again. "I don't have a problem with what they did. More like the way they did it."

Fang nodded. "But you forgive them." It wasn't a question. Fang already knew what I was thinking when he came up here. He was just keeping me company.

"So what's the problem?" Fang asked, and I sighed. _**That I can't understand why Val went and kissed Demon for the sake of the plan. Wasn't there some way to get around that?**_

"Val and your brother," I said shortly. Fang let out a loud and sudden breath, and turned his head fully to look at me. He obviously didn't like the topic any more than I did.

He let out a dry chuckle. "I have no idea what to do with the both of them. And the kiss came out of nowhere."

I nodded, still feeling a bit off-put. "I don't think that she needed to do that if she already knew what was happening. I mean—"

"Max," Fang interrupted me, sounding slightly amused, and I stopped talking before I started rambling my way into a hole. "Did you ever stop to think that Val and Demon could like each other as more than just_ best friends_?"

* * *

"_Don't worry. You're my violent Valerie." And then he kissed her._

"_You arse-face, if you ever tell me that you're fine again when you're really in the process of dying, I will certainly kick your tall, skinny ass from here to South Park. Got it?... I'm glad you're ok."_

_"I started singing to him. On purpose. And I didn't even mean to…His voice sounds really good. We had the dance he promised finally, and he sang along to "Black Mamba". And then he helped me with my wings…" I felt Val's eyes on me. "And…" I nodded. "Yeah. Me too."_

* * *

"No." I said quickly, looking straight ahead. Fang gave me that look that said, "You're an idiot if you think that I believe you." Then he kept going. "I always thought they'd end up together. I mean, look at Mira and Shawn. They're best friends, and I feel like Mira and Val are twins sometimes."

_**Nice job, Max. Plan "Let's not link this in any way to Fang's and my situation" just went out the window…**_I waited for myself to blush, then remembered that I was dead. "That's not how that works. Mira and Val are different, and so are Shawn and Demon. Best friends don't always get together. Mira and Shawn were just a special case."

"The set-up was the same," Fang said, as if that ended the conversation. I could feel his eyes boring into the side of my head. "Years of being together, where neither of them would say that they liked the other in a "more- than- just- my- sibling" way. People get together like that all the time." _**God damnit, I hate it when he talks this much!**_

"Not everyone though," I muttered under my breath. I could practically hear Fang roll his eyes.

"Max, those two have been getting closer to making out each time they enter the room together for a while now. And that was before Demon turned. Plus, they have a _kid_ that wants them to get together. It's going to happen." I chanced a glance at Fang from under my eyelashes and through my hair, and he had that obnoxious "I win" smirk on his face. My heart twisted in my chest- **_Damn it, aren't you supposed to have stopped moving, you useless organ?_**, and I knew that we weren't _just_ talking about Demon and Val anymore. _**Curse words. Lots and lots of curse words… **_

I guess that Fang figured that he was done with the conversation since he stopped talking, and I rolled my neck to get the tension out. Fang let out a "huh" noise, and I turned reluctantly to face him. "What?"

He shrugged, smirking with that annoying sparkle still in his eyes. "I figured that you wouldn't bring it up. I was right." _**I feel as though I'm constantly saying that I want to punch you, Fang.**_

"Shut up," I gritted my teeth and managed to say without leaping over the side of the roof. It wasn't _my_ fault that I hated bringing up any type of situation that led to my needing to express emotions. Fang let out a chuckle, and surprise- attack- kissed me on the cheek. I let out a shudder. _**Bad ideas. Bad thoughts. I shouldn't be out here with him after what happened the last time we were in the same room together.**_

"Sure." Fang looked annoyingly bright and happy for someone who was supposed to be dead. And emotionless. "We have the rest of eternity for you to figure this out."

He managed to close the door right before I yelled, "STOP WATCHING OPRAH, YOU FREAK!" _**I'm so happy that I don't blush anymore.**_

* * *

_**-Val POV-**_

Cool. So I'd been dry- sobbing for about an hour now against my will. And I still felt like crap. _Awesome possum_. Skye was staring absent- mindedly out the window, and stroking my hair. I had my head on Skye's lap, and now I was staring up at the ceiling.

"How did he die?" Those were the first words that I had heard out of Skye's mouth in an hour. I knew that she was talking about Marcus, and I could feel venom making its way back to my eyes again, so I shoved down the needs of my tear- ducts- _Why the frick do we need tear ducts anyway?_- and attempted to tell her as clearly as possible. "I couldn't kill him."

Skye looked down at me. "You come in here sobbing your eyes out, and then you tell me that Marcus isn't dead? Then where the frick is he?"

I interrupted her before she could keep going, turning onto my side. "Dead." _God damnit, why can't my eyes stop burning?_

"Then what the frick are you talking about?" I looked up directly at Skye, sitting up from her lap and looking straight at her. Skye didn't sound like Skye. At all. My eyebrows furrowed- _Why does she sound so familiar?_-, but I kept the conversation going anyway. "I helped kill him."

Skye blinked blankly at me, her face showing absolutely nothing. _Freaky…_ "Explain."

I wanted to kick something. My foot twitched in response. "I lit the warehouse that he burned in on fire. He just walked into it and stayed there. If it weren't for me, then he wouldn't have…"

Skye kept looking down at me blankly. "You constantly forget that people think besides you, Val. Marcus made the conscious decision to walk into the warehouse and stay there. It's not your fault. He probably would have found a way to kill himself when you weren't there."

I rolled back to my back. "I helped along the process. He would have been here longer if I hadn't." I knew that whatever Skye said to me, I would still put the blame on myself. And that's exactly what Carlisle and the others would think, whether it was subconsciously or not, when I told them that Marcus was dead. There was going to be no denying that.

Skye narrowed her eyes, looking slightly annoyed. "Demon is a freaking saint. I need lessons from him on how to deal with you. Look, it's not always your fault that things turn out the way that they do."

I shrugged, rolling away from Skye and looking off at the far wall. She wasn't getting anywhere with that thought.

Skye pushed me off of her, and she got up and stretched. I followed her lead and got off the bed. I wiped my eyes one last time, because it seemed as though every tear that I probably should have cried in the past had decided to join the funfest that had taken place. _I now realize that tears are the WORST representation of emotion ever. Jesus, I hope that I never cry again._

I stretched my arms over my head, hearing a satisfying crack, and started to plan out how the hell I was going to tell Carlisle about everything that had happened this morning. I cringed, and Skye looked at me sideways. _Hmm. That doesn't seem too appealing right now. And I just stopped crying. –shudders again—I think that we'll just put that off until later._ I looked over at Skye, and a small light bulb went off in my head.

I grabbed Skye's arm, which hung limply in my hand. I stared at it for a few seconds, then turned and pulled her out of the room. "Where are we going?"

I looked back at her, not exactly sure if she should hear at the time considering that she was still sort of "…meh" in terms of her emotions. But I figured that if I didn't fix all of this between Blaze and Skye as soon as possible, then I was going to probably have to confront Carlisle immediately. And he'd probably smell the venomous tears or something, and that would be a really messy thing to explain.

_Yes, Demon. You were right. I am a very selfish person. But you will never hear those words come out of my mouth._

I bit my lip, then shoved her back in the room and said, "Wait here. I have to take care of something."

Closing the door on her, I sighed, and then took off in search of Blaze's soon- to- be- sorry ass.

Surprisingly, when I found him, he, Fang and Demon were having some sort of kumbayah party on the floor of one of the many rooms in this stupid apartment. As soon as I walked in, I walked back out. That scene was too much for my mind to take in. I collected myself in the hallway, and walked back in. It was silent as soon as I came back. I suppressed a shudder, because Fang looked much happier than I think that I had ever seen him. And looking at Demon was just plain uncomfortable. So I focused on my main victim.

Blaze looked confused, to say the least. And because I wasn't doing anything but leaning on the side of the doorway, glaring at him, his confusion was spreading past just his eyes. The room was silent for a while, and then Fang- _What the frick is wrong with today?_- muttered, "Jeez, you sure know how to pick 'em, Demon…"

My hands curled into fists, and I struggled to not go off topic and murder Fang. Out of the corner of my eye, though, I could see Demon shoot his brother a fierce glare. I turned all my attention back to Blaze. Gruffly, he bit out, "What?" That was just the paranoia talking.

I glared at him for a minute more, then I lunged at Blaze and punched him in the stomach. Fang leapt up and grabbed me, but I promptly bit him when he tried to get me in a headlock. He let me go, and I straightened my shirt, shooting him a glare. _Damn, I need to change my clothes._ Blaze stood up slowly, and I told him, "I need to talk to you for a second."

There was no obvious change in Blaze's slightly defensive emotionless stance, but his eyes now said, instead of their previous message of "Why the freak did you just punch me?", "You couldn't have just said that, instead of punching me in the stomach?" I stood up straight and shrugged. There was a lot more where that had come from, but I wasn't going to tell Blaze that.

Blaze raised an eyebrow, the rest of his face blank. "What about?"

My eyes narrowed, waiting for his reaction. "Skye."

Blaze's eyes dulled, his eyebrows narrowed a little, his shoulders dropped, and one of his hands twitched. I could see that he wanted to punch me for bringing up the topic of his ex. That was when I heard the door close, and I knew that Blaze and I were the only two in the room. _How considerate._

"What about her?" Blaze asked lowly.

"How long do you—" In the middle of my sentence I punched him in the neck, wanting to give myself the element of surprise. _I pride myself on my unpredictability._ While Blaze was crumbling to the ground holding his neck, I calmly finished my question: "—plan on hurting Skye like this?"

Blaze coughed twice from the ground, and glared at me. I continued as though he were planting sunflowers in front of me. "She fell apart when you broke up. When are you going to just forgive her already? Because you know that one) you're hurting just as much as she is, and two) I can't deal with the entire "blocking off my emotions" thing that Skye's trying to pull to keep herself from falling apart." _I mean, it's kind of funny, but that's just my sadism talking._ "Plus, the entire thing was my idea. Skye had the foggy details of what she wanted to do to save the family; I came up with the legitimate plan. So you have really no reason to blame any of this on her; it was all just impeccable acting skills that you've seen in action before. So hurry up and get back together with her before I hand your sorry ass to you in a Chinese take-out box."

Blaze was silent, now sitting on the bed with his head in his hands. _Yes. Feel the guilt._ My eyes narrowed even more. "If you don't say something in the next ten seconds, Blaze, I will teach you what it feels like to be born a girl."

Five seconds past- _Very brave kid_- and as the ninth second past, Blaze said, "S'not that simple."

I fought the urge to deck him, but caved to the need to roll my eyes. "You've got to be frigging kidding me."

I sat on the edge of the bed beside Blaze, and he didn't show a hint of being even more paranoid that I was going to beat the dead out of him. _For Skye's sake only. Not like I'm taking out all my anger that Marcus is dead on Blaze, or anything…_ "Blaze, it's simple. You walk into the room down the hall, apologize, ask her to forgive your incredibly stupid mistake, give her reasons that she should take you back (including, but not limited to, the fact that you were a stupid, stupid _boy_ and believed that you were doing the right thing), and then Skye starts crying and says that she forgives you. The end."

"And you know this how?" Blaze asked, and I could distinctly hear the beginning of a growl in his throat. *_You're* annoyed with *me*? HA, that's funny…_

"Resident mind-reader, dumb-ass," I shot back at him. Blaze turned and started to glare at me. "So then what's the game plan with Demon, if this relationship thing is so fucking easy?"

I shot up, turning my head to glare at him. "We were talking about you and Skye, Blaze. This has nothing to do with Demon and me."

He snorted. "Skye and I have nothing to do with you either. So why don't we both just keep out of each other's business, then, huh?"

That one hurt a little, but like hell was I going to tell him that. So I scowled at him, getting up and walking out of the room. "Gladly." _Sorry, Skye, but your ex is an evil bastard._

So after I'd told Blaze the way to get rid of some of the tension that was suffocating us all, he had shut me down. That was cool, obviously. I resisted the urge to scream out loud, and then pulled myself together. Screaming was not going to get me anywhere. But I had to talk to Carlisle, otherwise this entire guilt thing was going to eat me alive. _God damnit, emotions suck ass._

I pulled in a deep breath, and walked further down the hallway, trying to catch Carlisle's scent. It smelled like everyone had gone out hunting, and the only people who were left in the house at the moment were Blaze, Kami, Fang, and Demon. Skye had probably slipped out after I left her in the bedroom, and Max was sitting thinking by herself on the roof. I guessed that it had to do with Fang, most likely, since Fang's mind was on the same wavelength as Max's. I decided that right now, in the middle of this breakdown, would be the perfect time to take a quick shower.

I took a 3 minute shower, seeing as my fear of being submerged in water still hadn't died down- _Note to self, work on that…_-, and changed into the yellow- and- gray- striped shirt and dark purple pants that I had stuffed into my backpack as my second outfit. I pulled my Converse and black V-neck hoodie on and braided my hair back into a ponytail. Luckily for me –_or unluckily, depends on how you look at it…_-, when I closed the door behind me, I heard the front door open. Voices floated down the hall, and I could smell some blood on people's clothes. _Where does a vampire go veggie-hunting in California?_ I was able to pick out Carlisle's mind from the sudden flood of people, and I called out to him mentally. _Carlisle? It's Val. Need to tell you something._

Soon enough, he was walking down the hallway, and I almost felt bad since he was looking sort of wary. _I've seen that face on way too many doctors/ whitecoats._

It was obvious that not too many people trusted Skye and me anymore. I didn't blame them. We- well, actually, _I_ was a sadistic, manipulative, cuddly, little monster. Skye was just cuddly and little, with monster status still pending. Either way, just because Carlisle was a good person, he decided to not let it affect him as openly as the others did.

I had this gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I attempted to swallow my guilt. Again.

"What's wrong?" I fought to keep a poker face, and be as blunt as I possibly could be. I turned, and walked into the kitchen, Carlisle following behind me. It was about as close to privacy as we were going to get. And plus, I was a pro at stalling.

I leaned against the counter, and Carlisle sat down. I decided that blunt was the way to go, and doubled my efforts to keep my poker face up. "Marcus is dead."

Of course, at that exact second, Kami strolled into the kitchen looking for something to eat. _Of all the unlucky times in the world…_ One second later, Carlisle did that shocked whisper- yell thing. "What?"

I took a deep breath, and decided that I was going to keep going, since I was already ankle-deep in shit. "I went looking for him last night and he asked me to kill him. I set fire to the warehouse that we were standing by on the beach and he walked right in."

Kami had wandered over, looking up at me confused. "Mom? Who's dead?" _For the love of Pete, I am NOT having this conversation with my kid._

Carlisle's head was in his hands for all of three seconds, and then he shot up out of his chair at vampire speed, and started pacing the floor. Kami let out a little squeak, but it didn't get through to Carlisle. I set my lips in a grim line, and swung Kami onto my hip. She shivered, distracted for a moment. "Mom, why are you so cold? And how did Grandpa move so fast?"

And then, because I was a beast at acting first and not thinking until the bomb had been constructed and had already gone off, I told her. "Sweetheart, it's because we're vampires."

Carlisle stopped, everyone stopped talking down the hallways, and I took in another deep breath. This was the final straw. I was tired, for some reason simmering, and probably not thinking as much as I should have. So I told her.

"We're all vampires, sweetheart. That's why we all look the exactly the same as when you were younger." I said softly. I didn't need my words echoing in the sudden complete silence. Carlisle was staring at me like a deer stuck in the headlights, and then I heard footsteps trailing their way up the hallways, which I knew was code for "I'm really angry, and I'm trying not to run into the room and make the situation even worse."

Kami's eyes were wide, and she was suddenly very quiet. "You drink blood?"

I looked her dead in the eyes. "Not from humans, love. From animals."

Funnily enough, it was Max who appeared in the doorway, looking pretty much ready to beat me upside the head. I raised an eyebrow in her direction, setting Kami down on the floor. Kissing her on the forehead, I said, "I'll be back in a little bit, sweetheart." Kami flinched backwards, and in turn I flinched. I didn't say anything, just walked past Max out of the kitchen. She trailed me, and I walked up to the roof, knowing that was where she wanted to go to yell at me like a crazy person.

"Are you freaking **insane**?" were Max's first words after I opened the door. "She's, what, SIX? She doesn't understand the ideas some crazy-sounding people that are supposed to be her family are spewing at her in hopes that she can understand that we don't mean to hurt her! According to her six-year-old brain, we're just some crazy people who drink blood! Are you freaking _out of your mind_!"

I shrugged, and I was not about to argue with Max about it. "No. I felt that she deserved to know what was happening. She's my kid, and I will choose what I want to tell her." I felt really tired. Way too tired to say anything more than I had to. So Max was going to have to just shut up and take whatever I was dishing out without arguing, otherwise I was going to explode a bit on the inside of my head. And she would have to clean it all up. _Which would suck for all of us._

"And you didn't stop to think that _maybe_ she wouldn't take it as well as Bella did, did you?" Max said, suddenly very calm about the entire thing. I saw the Fang pose that she automatically took, and I was getting ready to tackle her if I needed to.

"We will work that out when we get there," I said, and I was not letting this conversation go any farther than that. I walked back down the stairs and went into the kitchen where I had left Kami. The room was empty.

I followed her mind out of the kitchen and into one of the spare bedrooms. Kami was sitting on the bed by herself, curled up into a ball. Her back was turned away from me. I softly whispered, "Hey, sweetheart."

She didn't answer, and I felt a little pang in my chest.

"You want to talk?" I wasn't giving this up without a fight. Kami, on the other hand, had already made up her mind about this entire situation: I wasn't going to get anywhere with her, since she wasn't going to talk to me. She shook her head.

"You want me to wait here with you while you think about it?" Kami shook her head again. I thought of the only option that was open to me that would probably make Kami happy, and my heart broke a little more on the inside. _Cool. Motherhood SUCKS._

"You want me to leave?" I asked quietly, and Kami hesitated for a second before she nodded. I clenched my teeth- _You are not going to cry. I will beat you if you cry_- and walked out of the room quietly. I pulled my hoodie back up onto my shoulders, and walked calmly out the front door.

I spread my wings out through the slits in my hoodie, and took off in the direction of wherever. As soon as I was above clouds, I flapped my wings harder, and dive-bombed my way out of the city limits. I swiped angrily at my eyes and flew for hours, trying to keep myself from exploding in mid-air. Yeah, that'd be a tough one to explain to anyone who saw.

"_Hey, what's that? ZOMG, IT'S A METEOR SHOWER! Wait, why is it raining flaming clothes?"_

I wasn't sure where I was when I eventually touched down. I pulled my hoodie back up over my shoulders, and decided to walk in a random direction in hopes that I would somehow figure out where the hell I was. And then somehow, probably some fluke of luck, I caught onto a smell that I hadn't smelt in a long time. _Huh. With the crappy way that my day's been going, I never would have thought to smell that anytime soon…_

I ran in the direction of the source, and that was when I smelt something else wrapped around the scent. _Eww, tell me they didn't…_

I was hearing voices way off in the distance now, and I slowed down. Stepping through the forest clearing, I nearly screamed.

"GOD DAMN IT, LEAH! I COME HERE READY TO POUR MY HEART OUT TO YOU AND JACOB HAS HIS HANDS UP YOUR SHIRT AND HAS CUT OFF YOUR AIR SUPPLY! YOU ARE SO INCONSIDERATE!"

They leapt apart, and I smirked sadly at the both of them. Leah was the first to recover, shoving Jacob farther away from her and pulling her shirt down. I could tell that she would be bright red if it were possible. "YOU BITCH!"

_Yeah, I know._

* * *

**_So, there you go. It took me long enough, right? But don't dwell on that! You may or may not end up trying to kill me again, and that would suck. A lot._**

**_This chapter is dedicated to . Clumsy. Carrie . , because she needs something to entertain her while she is... not all there upstairs. (Huzzah for euphemisms!) And also, thanks to her for reminding me that Vices and Virtues had come out. I edited this entire chapter to "Trade Mistakes". GO FORTH AND LISTEN TO PANIC! They're amazing._**

**_NOW REVIEW!_**

**_Peace, love, and:_**

leshawnaseville15: Yeah, just skip episodes 4-8. You'll thank me later.

Me: But why can't I watch them?

leshawnaseville15: Because it's basically the same episode over and over. It's some wierd plot device.

Asprey: That's not a plot device. That's called budget cuts.

**_Skittles31, a.k.a. Ninja-Pudge_**


	51. A Wierd, Violent Way of Crying it Out

_**Ohayo. Meep-meep.**_

_**Meepity meep meep meep. Meep.**_

_**^The apology of a certain Littlest Cinnaminion for causing you all to wait for so long. (If you couldn't tell, I changed my pen-name. And I'm sort of in love with it.)**_

_**But yeah, I'm sorry. The timing of the updates was just really off since the last time that I updated was right before the teachers at school started to review for exams. Then came exams, and then I was working (HUZZAH FOR MY OWN MONEY!). But, yeah, I was really busy, and on top of that I had a bit of writer's block when I got to around the middle of the chapter. But with the help of somewhere around 5 packs of Sour Patch Straws (my brain food), I figured it out. And I hope that you guys like it.**_

_**A special thank you goes out to "FangnotFnick", whose review was the last one that I got before I decided to kick my butt into gear. So thank him/ her (leaning towards her) for this chapter.**_

_**Disclaimer: Iie. That means "no" in Japanese. Just one of the Japanese words that I learned in my weeks of sitting at home, watching anime.**_

_**And now, ON WITH THE STORY.**_

* * *

_**-Val POV-**_

Jacob looked between Leah's face and mine, and awkwardly didn't meet my eyes. "Um, hi, Val. So, you're back?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Yup. So, you want to tell me when the heck _this_ happened?" I gestured loosely to his and Leah's messed up hair and clothing, and both let out nervous chuckles. I smirked a little.

Jacob was actually brave enough to start. "Well… um… so, Val? When did you get back?"

I smirked at his not- so- subtle attempt to change the topic. "Well, about that… It was probably about 3 days ago, now that I think about it… Is that about the same time that you and Leah started going out, Jake?" _And score: 1 for Valerie, 0 for Jake…_

Jake cursed under his breath with a huge smile on his face, and I chuckled a bit sadistically. "Leah, you want to take it from here?" Without waiting for an answer, Jake ran out of the clearing. I could hear his mental shouts of glee.

"Wait, Jake—" Leah's attempt to keep Jacob from running off with his tail between his legs failed miserably, and she stood there looking off in his direction after he was long gone. "Bastard," she muttered under her breath, with a noticeably affectionate smile on her face anyway. I shuddered; Leah had officially gone soft.

"You two look pretty cuddly with each other," I said bitterly. Leah looked- _Eww, is she blushing?_- almost shy. I wanted to gag myself with a spoon.

"Yeah, we've been together about 4 days now. But that's not the point, since I haven't seen you in, what was it, 3 years?" Leah was much better at diversion tactics that Jake was.

I shrugged, and managed a half smile. "Yup. Nice to see you, girly. But there's just one thing that I have to ask before we go the way you want the conversation to go and review everything that's happened to me over the past three years: exactly why is he with you?"

Leah's face, which had been glowing annoyingly for the past few minutes, darkened a bit. "Excuse me?"

"I mean, is this some twisted way to get Nessie to notice him? I really don't want that happening to you." I was evidently pissing Leah off, because then she got really worked up and shot back, "Are you calling me the back-up plan? Weren't you the one who wanted Jake and me together in the first place?"

I shrugged, wondering why she was getting all defensive of her and Jake. "I'm not calling you the back-up plan. I'm saying that I don't want you to end up _being_ the back-up plan. Wasn't Jake madly- in- love with Nessie last time I checked? Imprints are pretty hard to break, too. You've been hurt by them once, I don't want you to be hurt again."

Leah now looked ready to blow up. "Valerie, I am _not_ going to sit here and listen to you try to screw up my relationship. I'm fucking _happy_, for once, so stop sticking your nose where it doesn't concern you. You've been away for 3 years, and a lot has changed. You're operating off of old information, so until you hear the entire updated story, you don't get to say anything. So shut up."

I clenched my fists at my side. "You know, that's the second time that I've heard that in the past 24 hours. Honestly, I'm _really_ sorry for caring." _People in relationships are so damn __sensitive__…_

Leah full-on scowled at me, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring. "More like "sorry for being a bitch.""

I took a deep breath, shut my eyes, and counted backwards from ten. I really didn't want to fight with Leah, especially after seeing her for the first time in three years. She was really starting to make me want to rip someone's (her) head off, but seeing as she was the last person (besides Skye) that I could talk to since everyone else was now ready to have my head for more _serious_ reasons, I couldn't act on that urge. Even though it was really difficult to fight the instinct. I managed to hold myself together and keep my temper in check, by some miracle of some higher power. I growled low in my throat and kept my mouth shut.

Leah, who seemed to have been expecting the fight, turned to me looking slightly confused. "I'm kind of surprised that you haven't lunged for my throat yet."

_Honestly, Leah, so am I._ I snorted, and tried my best to not sound sarcastic. It didn't work. "Well, considering that my "being a bitch" is the reason that I'm even here right now, since everyone back in California is pissed at me, I don't really have much of a right to lunge at your throat, now do I?"

Leah relaxed her "battle- ready" stance. "What did you do?"

I sat down on the floor, and she walked over to sit beside me. "Well, after 3 years of not seeing any of the family on a regular basis, I managed to screw everything up and over the moon while simultaneously saving their lives when I finally did see them. Oh, and I _pretty much_ single- handedly destroyed Demon's and my relationship, ruined Skye and Blaze's relationship, _and_ got on Carlisle's hit-list. All in the span of about 72 hours." I clenched my teeth and rolled my eyes. "Go me. When I fudge things up, I go all the way." _I should get an effing trophy._

Leah let out a low whistle. "Wow."

I let out a sigh. "Yup. Welcome to the bitch-fest." And then I told her everything, down to the smallest detail. She only asked a few questions, and by the time I was done, I felt like I had out-talked Nudge. Or at least Nudge before this entire soap opera ever happened. It was quiet for a few seconds, and then Leah finished processing.

"So what're you trying to tell me?" Leah stared blankly at me. "That you screwed up? I thought the amazing Valerie never screwed up. Or at least, she never screwed up out loud."

I fought the urge to strangle her. I thought that talking to Leah was supposed to have helped this entire thing go over much better. So far, I just wanted to kick her in the chest. It was really too bad that I was on this entire non-violent stretch since my feelings of guilt were dragging me down. Otherwise, I would have totally gone all Chuck Norris on her ass.

While I was having an internal monologue, Leah kept talking. "And another thing that's bothering me: you're pretty much telling me that because of your surprisingly large mouth- Honestly, I can't believe that you _led a flock_ with the amount of problems that you _singlehandedly_ caused by opening your mouth- in the span of three days, you managed to screw up every inter-vampire relationship you had?" Leah looked too calm about the entire thing, so I tried to answer her without sealing my own coffin.

"Yeah." _I'm thinking that the less I say, the less she has to use against me._

Leah then punched me in the arm, looking murderous. "You are a _complete_ idiot. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"Leah, what the hell are you talking about?" Hadn't we just been talking and having a completely different conversation? "I've been here for about 30 minutes now. You're only having this reaction to my presence now?"

She hit me again, and I couldn't help the feeling that I had said the wrong thing. "DUMBASS! Do you just _not_ _believe_ in damage control?"

I was confused. I told her so. "Leah, I'm confused. You aren't making any type of sense right now."

Leah looked about ready to kill me. "Val, you ran away like a complete cowardly idiot. Who the _fuck_ knows what's going on in your head?"

I opened my mouth to protest, but the look that Leah shot me shut me up for the time being. She took a deep breath, and tried to explain to me why she was abusing my arm. "Valerie, you have the tendency to say things too bluntly with absolutely no padding whatsoever. And since I'm pretty sure that you blurted out most of this stuff without _any_ details to cushion the impact- because unlike a _normal_ person, you _don't_ ramble when you're nervous-, you made a bigger mess than you probably wanted. So congrats, genius, you created a train wreck."

I blinked. "Oh." _Yup. There's one for the books._

Leah wasn't anywhere near finished with her angry ranting yet. "WHAT POSSESSED YOU TO RUN?"

I managed a brief half- smile that was probably going to get me killed. "What can I say? Flying's fun."

Leah let out a loud groan and hid her face in her hands. She spent a good minute calling me a whole bunch of different words for idiot, then turned to me when I asked her, "So, what do I do?"

She looked up at me. "You're going to start using your brain, and you're going to go back to California and the others to explain everything to everyone."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "That sounds complicated, and too much like a plan to get me killed by the hands of someone in that house. I don't like that idea. Next."

Leah raised her fist at me, and I rephrased my answer. "Ignoring the problem has worked for me before. After a few days of staying here, I can go back, and everything will be fine. It works."

Leah full on growled at me, and I narrowed my eyes. _Pushy._ "Leah, if you force me to go back to California, I would be forced to face Demon, who I kissed 3 days ago and then shoved out of my life earlier today; Blaze, who pretty much told me that he wanted me out of his life; Carlisle, who I'm pretty sure has made me the first person on his hit-list EVER for killing one of his oldest friends; and Kami, who does not want to see me because she now hates me. Somehow, I don't think that my return to the hideout is going to particularly help my existence along."

* * *

_**-Demon POV-**_

"Kami, I just want to talk to you, sweetheart. Can you open the door, please?" **And attempt #12 to get my kid to respond to us has ALSO failed. What a shock.**

I was sitting outside the door of the room that Kami had locked herself in, my arms wrapped around my knees. I leaned my head back against the door, biting back another groan. It was number 15 in the past 20 minutes.

Max was pacing in front of me, muttering curses at Valerie under her breath. I listened for any sign of movement from inside the bedroom, but all I could hear was Kami's heartbeat and breathing.

Somehow, after I had found Valerie and then had my first kiss with her in the same hour, I hadn't exactly expected to be in this situation 2 days later. Then again, Valerie had this way of somehow turning what should have been a simple situation into the most complex mind-fuck a person could come up with.

And then, of course, after she decided that she wanted to screw up the straight, narrow, and easy way, she'd disappear, because that was just Valerie's style. So now, I was sitting outside of a door that I could have easily broken down, vampire or not, trying to comfort my fully human daughter who had just found out from her impulsive mother that everyone in the house was a vampire. And since my kid was normal, unlike Bella, she was taking the news as she should have.

Not well.

"Kami, we're not going to hurt you." I winced. **Who wants to say that to their kid? Anyone got their hand up? No one? Shocking…** "Sweetie, you've known us for so long. We've never hurt you before, Why would we start now? Or ever, for that matter? Kami, we love you. Your mother and I would rather die before we hurt you." I still heard no movement from inside the room, and I let out another sigh.

"Where the hell is Valerie?" Max turned to me and asked. I focused, and the image came to me immediately. She was with—"Wait, what the hell?"

"Tell me she's not dead," Max muttered, staring at me. **What are you glaring at *me* for? I'm not Valerie!** "She's the only one who can fix this problem, so she'd better not be dead." And then, under her breath, Max added, "And once this problem is fixed, _I'm_ going to be the one to kill her."

I shook my head, still sort of shocked. **Only Valerie... How the hell did she find Leah?** "She's with Leah…"

Max stared at me. "You're kidding, right?" **Well, this can't end well.** "She ran away? And left her mess for us to fix?"

I stared at Max and blinked once. In the span of 10 seconds, Max had pulled me up, said to Kami through the door that we were going to come back later, and then was in the process of towing me down the hallway. When we got onto the roof- **What is it with all Flock confrontations happening on the roof?**-, she finally turned to me.

"Listen, you're probably the only one who knows what's going on inside her head right about now. You had better go and get your girlfriend back, or I swear to God, I'm going to tear her to pieces when she gets back." With that, Max went back into the house, and I was left to wonder why I was always the one who had to clean up Valerie's messes. **Not that she's not worth it, but jeez…**

I tried to pick out exactly where she was again, and the image came to me. She was running, and she and Leah were probably talking mentally now since Leah had changed into her wolf form. Leah, from what I could see, was angrier than her regular angry face, and Val was keeping strategically blank, even away from the hide-out. Which probably meant that she had done something to piss Leah off, and wasn't owning up to it. Either that, or she had made up some BS excuse and was sticking to it like her life depended on it. **Yup, that's Val all right.**

I frowned, thinking of her earlier lecture on why she'd kissed me. I knew that she had just been saying most of that to get out of the room, since there was no way that Val hadn't prepared that entire speech. (Anything that had to do with emotions other than rage, and Val would stare at you like a deer in the headlights.) But until she came back, there was nothing that I could do to clear up the situation. And until I locked us in a room, there wasn't going to be any interaction, since Val is completely against the idea of elaborating on what she thinks is a settled situation. I sighed.

"It's hard being the best friend," I muttered to myself.

"Do I have to give you the talk now?"

I spun around, and looked up at Fang, wondering how in the name of God he had managed to get behind me without making a sound. I gave him a confused look. "I've already gotten the talk, so you're a little late on that…"

He almost smirked- **Geez, Fang. Is every expression you come up with half-assed?**- and put his hands in his pockets, coming to stand next to me. "Not what I meant."

I looked over at him after a few minutes of silence. "You suck at this talking thing, you know that?"

Fang looked up at the sky, his face blank again. "I mean the "best friend" talk."

I inhaled, and let out a small sigh. "Oh. You're going to lend me your fortune cookie "words of wisdom", now, Oh Wise Fang?"

Fang shot me a look out of the corner of his eyes, and I shut up. He looked over the edge of the roof, and said, "You like Valerie."

I choked on the non-existent air that was in my throat. "WHEN DID I SAY THAT!"

Fang raised an eyebrow, and I avoided all eye contact, trying to calm down enough that he didn't call me out. "I never said that," I said, and I didn't care that I sounded like a five-year- old with his first crush, which Fang clearly thought I was. He was ready to laugh at me, and he muttered under his breath, "So this is what Iggy felt like…"

I glared at him, and he kept going. "Corner her."

"You really aren't helping, Fang. And how the hell are you giving me advice on how to handle Val if half the time you and Max are fighting?"

He raised an eyebrow. "But when we do fight, it's because I force Max to talk. Corner them when no one's around, and they talk. That's how Max and Valerie work." With that, he just left.

I rolled my eyes, and turned back to look out over the rooftops at the ocean. Sighing, I followed Fang down the steps. "Fine, Mr. Miyagi. We'll try this your way."

* * *

_**-Twenty Minutes Later-**_

_**-Val POV-**_

Leah had gotten me to come back to the house after threatening bodily harm, and I still wasn't too sold on the idea, since whether or not she decided to tear me apart limb from limb, I was going to die anyway. So, when we got to the front door, I whispered a quick prayer and hoped that my death would be quick and painless.

Leah pushed me inside, and I made my way through the house. Max stomped up to me, and before she could hit me, I ducked and avoided her punch. "Jeez, Max, it hasn't even been 20 seconds yet…"

Max glared at me and said, "Go fix your kid. I'm not that into people dumping their problems on me, since I have enough of my own, okay?" With that, she stomped away, and I was left with Leah again.

"That went better than I expected," Leah said, and I shot her a glare. She was busy smirking to herself, and if it wouldn't have left a big stain on the floor, I would have slaughtered her right there.

I followed the sound of the heartbeat, and knocked on the door. "Kami? Sweetie, it's mom. Can I talk to you?" Demon popped up like a daisy, and I steadily avoided his eyes.

"That's not going to work. I've been sitting here from 3 in the afternoon trying to talk to her," Demon muttered lowly.

I waved him off. "Demon, shut up. You don't get to tell me what to do. Go say hi to Leah, or something." I heard both of them growl low in their throats, and ignored them in favor of my mentally- disturbed kid.

"Kami, if you don't talk to me, you're going to sit there and be terrified of people who can't even hurt you in the first place." There was no answer, so I thought of what would really get her to talk to us. "That, and I'll never feed you again." I could feel everyone staring at my back. I could practically hear Demon saying to himself, "Well, I didn't try _that_ approach…"

It was silent for a second, and then I heard muffled feet shuffling across the floor. I held my breath, and then the door opened a little crack so that I could see Kami's eye. _BAM, sir. Another point to Valerie._ She took a breath to speak, but her stomach grumbled really loudly. She looked down, and I resisted the urge to bust out into hysterical laughter. "You are _totally_ my kid," I muttered to myself, and then I crouched down to her level. "You want to eat, first, sweetie?"

She nodded mutely, and then the door opened a little wider. She stepped out, with one of the pillowcases wrapped around her neck. I really didn't know what to do about that, so I didn't say anything. Demon reached down to stroke her hair, but I stepped backwards onto his foot to cut him off. "She's still terrified. Don't touch her. Just follow her into the kitchen."

Kami shuffled in front of me, and I walked slowly behind her, with Demon way too close behind me. She climbed onto a chair, and I looked through the fridge for food while Demon sat on a backwards chair.

I quickly slapped together 3 tuna sandwiches and cut off the crusts. I set them in front of Kami and leaned against the counter. Kami chewed, and then after finishing one half of a sandwich, she looked up at me and said, "So, you don't eat food now?"

I shook my head. "Regular food makes us sick."

She nodded thoughtfully, and pulled the pillowcase tighter around her shoulders. Demon hid his smile in his arms. I kept talking. "And human blood makes us sicker."

Her head snapped up. _Huh, well look at that. A breakthrough._ "What, you thought I was lying? Kamilah, since when have I ever lied to you?" _And let you know about it?_

"For birthday cakes," She shot back at me, and I let out a huff. "I _mean_, when have I ever lied to you when you were in danger?"

Kami looked down, and muttered, "Never…"

I crossed my arms. "And I never will. So take that pillowcase from around your neck, all right? You're making me panic. And eat some more, I can still hear your stomach growling."

Kami went back to eating, but looked up. "So wait, you guys are faster than usual, and that's it? Wow, vampires suck."

Demon decided that now was a good time to jump into the conversation. "We can do more than that, missy. Hurry up and finish eating, and I'll show you." Kami's eyes lit up, and she practically wolfed down her food. After she was done, Demon scooped her up into his arms and said, "We have to talk when I get back." Before I could shoot down that idea with a billion reasons why it was terrible, he walked down the hallway with Kami improvising her "I'm Gonna Learn a Secret" song on his back. _Really, Demon? I already crossed the conversation with you off of my list of "Things That I Need To Get Over With". Do you *really* have to go and put yourself back on the list?_

When I heard the door slam again, I let out a huge breath and sunk to the floor, holding my head in my hands. "Ok, so that's one down, 3 to go," I muttered to myself, and then I thought about it a little while longer. _Hmm, who to deal with next…_

I decided that since it was pretty much a death or undead- zombie- type situation, I'd go talk to Carlisle first. Because if I didn't, I was pretty sure that Esme was going to come out of nowhere and beat me with a frying pan for making her husband depressed. I got up human pace, and went down the hallways peeking into each room, and hoping beyond hope that Carlisle wouldn't be in any of them.

Thankfully, I got my wish. Unfortunately, that just meant that Leah kicked me out of the house and told me not to come back until Carlisle had taken me off of his hit-list. I frowned, but decided that I needed to get this over with.

I landed on the beach, where I had a feeling that Carlisle would have been, but I nearly walked right past him. He looked really messy. _For him, anyway._ He was wearing a sweatshirt with the hood up, since the sun was still up and people were still around. I was pretty sure that I had never seen Carlisle in anything other than a dress shirt. His hands were shoved into his pockets, and he was barefoot. He was staring at the still smoldering remains of the warehouse, looking completely blank-faced. _Well, that's not encouraging, considering that *I* use that face when I'm harboring feelings of wanting to kill people._ I stood far enough off to his right that I was out of arm's reach, and looked at the few police officers who were still looking around for clues on what started the fire. I resisted the urge to smile a bit like the sadist that I am. _Well, look to your left, officer._

I have a bit of a problem with taunting clueless authority figures.

Carlisle then broke the silence between us, and I took one step away from him again. "Marcus was suicidal."

I opened my mouth, and words came pouring out in an attempt to save my butt. "Because Chelsea was taken care of in the ambush a few days ago, any relationships she changed got changed back to where they were before she interfered. Didyme was Marcus's mate. She died, and Marcus went into a suicidal depression. Aro had ordered Chelsea to bond Marcus to the rest of the Volturi, and that was what forced Marcus to stay alive, even though he really didn't want any part of the Volturi anymore. Then Chelsea was done away with, and that was when he started getting suicidal again. He had tried to kill himself the night before, but he couldn't go through with it. So he waited for me to come find him, and…" My throat closed up, and I told myself in my head. _Damn it! I thought that we were done with the crying for today…_

Carlisle still wasn't saying anything, so I kept up with the word vomit, despite the fact that I felt like I was going to throw up. "He was really sad, Carlisle. And I really don't like killing people. Unless they deserve it. Like Flyboys, and I only knock out Erasers. But he was depressed, and there was nothing else for him to live for, and he couldn't just stay here and pine after his dead wife. That would be cruel and unusual, and I didn't want to do that to him."

Carlisle seemed to have lost his vocal chords, and I was starting to get a bit angry. "Oi. It's not like I fricking asked for these powers, ok? I got them in the most un-natural way possible, and ever since then I just went with it. I know that if it hadn't been for me, then Marcus-" I embarrassingly enough got choked up on his name. I felt my eyes start to burn, and I rubbed at them until I finally felt like I wasn't going to start dry-sobbing again. _Because that would have been terrible. Even worse than the conversation that we're having right now._ I started over, and tried to keep the cracks out of my voice. "I know that if it hadn't been for me, then Marcus would be here. If you think that I don't know that, you're wrong. I feel terrible, and I cried for somewhere around 2 hours straight today because of it." _Ok, he didn't need to know that. Stupid mouth…_ "But I'm also kind of angry, because I know that he wouldn't be dead if I didn't have this power, and that I blame entirely on Itex. So if you're going to blame anyone right now, it is strictly Itex first, and me second."

Because Carlisle had decided to suddenly become a mime, I let out a low growl, threw the small bunch of flowers that I'd gotten into the sand, and started to storm back to the hideout, angrily swearing under my breath at Carlisle for _obviously_ having smoked a little too much out of his pipe before he became a vampire. He was _too _calm.

"Valerie."

I wanted him to be angry. How was I supposed to talk things through with people who wouldn't be angry back? It didn't make any sense, because if Carlisle decided that he wanted to be all silent and not do anything violent, then how the heck was I supposed to deal with him? How the frick did you have a discussion like this without there being any anger involved?

"Valerie." There was a hand that appeared on my shoulder, and I got ready for the punch. But, of course, because this was Hippie Carlisle that we were talking about, the punch never came. "Turn around."

He sounded depressed. _Dear God, I'm not ready to handle this if he's not going to throw a punch._ I turned around, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, frown on my face, and ready to argue.

Carlisle did not argue. Carlisle, instead, decided that he wanted to give me a one-armed hug. My eyes widened, and I watched as he let out a small smile. "I'm not going to blame you."

This would have been the perfect time for a spit-take, if I'd had water.

He kept going, like he hadn't lost his mind. "I knew that Marcus was depressed. Even if we didn't want him to, he was probably going to find some way to get back to Didyme." He started to rub my arm, and I tried to stop stiffening. "I'm sad I didn't get to give him a service. He deserved it."

He looked at the flowers in his hands, and set them back down. "But then again, he wouldn't have wanted anyone to make a fuss over him." He closed his eyes for a few seconds, and then he whispered, "We'll miss you, Marcus."

"I'm glad that I punched Aro for you, as revenge, since you wouldn't even though you should have." Carlisle looked at me, and I guessed that wasn't what you said at a funeral. _Well, sue me for not being religious._ "Sorry. I meant, um… bye, Grandpa."

Carlisle chuckled, and then we finally started walking away from the beach. Carlisle pressed a kiss to my forehead, and surprisingly, I didn't pull away. I felt like a huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders, and I hesitantly put an arm around Carlisle's waist.

We walked back to the hideout like that. It was sort of nice.

* * *

Carlisle wished me luck with the Blaze and Skye situation, and I put my hands behind my head. But before I go try and check another problem off of my list, I was interrupted by Demon. "Val, you want to have that talk now?"

I managed not to jump or scream at him to make noise when he walked. "Nope. I have to go lock Blaze and Skye in the same room. Buddy, at the moment, you take second priority."

I moved to walk past him, but he caught my arm and spun me around. _DO I LOOK LIKE A DANCE PARTNER TO YOU?_ "I don't think that's such a good idea," Demon said, looking at me seriously.

I shook his hand off. "What're you talking about? I was the reason that they broke up, I should be the one to fix this."

Demon crossed his arms, and for a brief second, it looked like he was having an internal battle. Then he blinked, and his eyes smoothed over. "Except that we have to talk first."

"Look, D. We can talk after I get those two back together. That can't wait. This can." I went to go find the two ex-lovebirds again, but Demon pulled my back again.

I fought the urge to strangle him. "What?" I snarled, and Demon's face was unnaturally blank. _This is uncomfortable._

"We. Have. To. Talk." Demon seemed to be unwilling to help me fix my flock's situation, so I decided to take the more forward approach.

I stomped on his toes and spun around, ready to knee him in the crotch. He pulled me in close to him- _TOO CLOSE_- and the opportunity to knock him out in one hit was gone. So I went to punch him in the throat, but he grabbed my hand before I could make contact. The arm that he had snaked around my waist tightened, and I could pretty much feel him sucking the air out of the room.

He chuckled humorlessly, and looked down at me, eyes dark green. "You just won't _listen,_ will you?" I narrowed my eyes at him, but he wouldn't budge.

Then, from down the hallway, I heard running footsteps, and then Seth appeared in the doorway. "VALERIE!" Then he looked closely at the position that he had unfortunately found me in, and asked in a tone that I really didn't like, "Am I interrupting something?" To make the situation worse, Leah popped up behind him. But at least she hit him in the head for me and scolded him…

…Right before she looked over at me and smirked. _I take back that thanks then Leah, you slore._

I broke away from Demon, stomped on his foot again, and then stormed over to Seth. "Hiya, Seth," I muttered before I punched him in the stomach. Glaring at Leah for a quick second, I looked back over at Seth with a smirk on my face, walking down the hallway. "When you think that you've learned your lesson, come back to me for a hug."

I decided that immediately after I finished lecturing Skye and Blaze on why they should get back together (that also meant possibly beating the idea into them), I was going to take Kami- _Demon wouldn't attack me with our kid in my arms_-, tell her that all boys had cooties and why it would be better for her to just never talk to one that she wasn't related to.

Because I swear, if someone had told me that, my life would have been a lot easier.

* * *

_**REVIEW. NOW. I AM ESPECIALLY DIRECTING THIS TOWARDS SOME CERTAIN MISSES ". Clumsy. Carrie. " and "Leshawnaseville15". THEY/ YOU TWO OWE ME REVIEWS.**_

_**I love you all. Thank you for sticking with this story, and I promise that the next update will not take so long.**_

_**Peace, love, and:-**_

Bugsy (bro): Zee? Why are you sleeping upside down?  
Me: Expect the unexpected, Bugs.  
Him: Wha-? –has Red Angry Bird stuffed animal thrown at him-  
- A Few Moments of Silence-  
Him: Why are you such a ninja? And why didn't I get those genes?

_**a.k.a. Littlest Cinnaminion, the former Skittles31**_


	52. Wordless Remedies and Friday Night Mono

**_HI GUYS._**

**_Yeah, it's Cinnie! I'm back! I'm sorry that it took almost forever to put up this chapter, but I went to this really intense business camp that my mum sort of forced me into doing (she totally forgot to send in my other camp application, even though she denies it). It was supposed to teach me how to start my own business, which was all well and good, but by the middle of the second week, I felt like a pregnant lady: irritated, tired, angry, and hungry._**

**_So in the end, there was too much worrying about fake money (I will never look at Monopoly the same way again) and not enough being allowed to talk about anything other than the business plans/ not enough hugging. And then after it was done, I just keeled over and slept for a good 14 hours. IT WAS GREAT. And I narrowly avoided the pit-fall that was a classmate's very wonderful self. ALSO GREAT. I was also, at one point, serenaded by a trio of jazz singers on the train because I gave them 2 bucks. NOT SO GREAT. But the entertainment value was nice._**

**_Either way, this is the second to last chapter of DWF. Yes, I know exactly what is going to happen next. No worries in that department. But you should decide whether or not there is an epilogue, and then say so in your review, ok? Good._**

**_Disclaimer: I learned to handle fake money, not real law suits._**

**_And now, ON WITH THE STORY!_**

* * *

**_-Val POV-_**

"Hi, Val," Ella called out from the living room, and I wondered how the hell she had gotten here. I plastered a smile on my face, and said, "Hey, Ella. I'll talk to you in a bit, but I have to go beat some sense into some people." I gave her a quick shoulder pat, and continued down the hallway to where Skye had last been.

I kicked open the door, saying, "Oi. You, up and on your fee—… Well, this is awkward."

Blaze and Skye were sitting on the bed, less than a foot away from each other, and leaning in closely as they talked. I felt itchy watching them. They both were staring at me, and then Blaze's eyes narrowed. _Hmm. Still P.M., I see._

"I thought we'd decided that you were going to stay out of this," he growled lowly, and in monotone, as if I was supposed to just back out whenever he said so.

"Funny. I thought we'd decided that you don't tell me what to do. It's the other way around, dumb-butt." I raised an eyebrow, just _dying_ for him to say something so that I could lunge across the room and re-arrange his face. Because flock member or not, I would kill him before he gave me an order that I obeyed.

He started to snarl, and I chuckled. "Don't be so upset. You're not the first person this has happened to. You're not that special, Blaze."

Skye, surprisingly enough, shot me a look that said, "Enough already". But I'd had enough of her. "And Skye? Who the hell are you imitating? Because the fact that I can't recognize who it is really annoying me."

She gave me this look that pretty much said, "I know you're kidding me, right?" and shook her head at me. "Val, Blaze, please stop fighting." _Well, at least she's talking._ "Val, what are you doing here?" _Excuse me?_

I gave her a "What are you talking about?" look. "Well, since it's sort of my fault that you two broke up in the first place, I figured that I owed it to you two to get you back together." I paused, before glaring at Blaze. "Even though he _really_ isn't making it that easy for me to look sorry."

Skye ran a hand over her face, and then her expression was blank again. _Lovely. Because I can read that. Really, Skye. _To make this entire episode get moving a little faster, I decided to try something different that I'd never tried before. _Sweet Jesus, I hope that this works._

I reached out to Blaze's mind first, because if this was uncomfortable, I wanted him to be the one who had the most discomfort. He stiffened after I muttered something in his head, and said lowly, "Get out of my head, Valerie."

I rolled my eyes, because now he just didn't even deserve an answer. He obviously wanted to see who was the more stubborn person, and I wasn't about to let him even _think_ that he had a shot at winning _that_ competition. "I'm trying to speed this along. Shut up, Blaze. I'm trying to concentrate."

After successfully linking my mind to Blaze's, I went along and tried to link my mind to Skye's. When that worked, I managed to cut myself out of the loop, leaving their minds linked. And by the looks on their faces, it had worked.

I almost managed not to laugh, until Blaze's face twisted into the most horrified expression that I'd ever seen on him. Then I lost it.

"This isn't funny!"/ "Why did you do that?" Blaze and Skye shouted at me at the same time, and then both of them flinched. I kept down another laughing fit, and said to both of them, "Well, since neither of you want me involved in this, I'm letting you talk it out on your own. Or rather, think it out. Plus, no one outside of this room hears what you're talking about."

Skye nodded and whispered, "Thank you." I guessed that she was getting used to the other voice in her head- _well that didn't come out right…_-, which made everything sound louder than it was. Blaze was only concentrating on Skye mentally, so he didn't even acknowledge what I'd said. Not that he would have, anyway.

I sat down against the door, and listened to what was going on outside of the room. I found out that Seth and Jacob had chased after Leah when she had disappeared without a trace, and Seth couldn't just leave Ella behind. So Ella hopped on Wolf-Seth's back –_Did no one else see the potential for a huge, inexplicable accident there? Just me? Ok…_— and they shot after Leah's scent to figure out what was wrong. (Jacob's incredibly far-fetched idea that she had been sold into prostitution by the mafia was what had kept them going, even when they almost lost the scent.)

Once that had been explained, Ella asked, "So, who's Val beating now?" There was a groan that I think came from Leah, since she then went and said, "She basically screwed everything up, and now she's trying to fix it all as quickly as possible so that no one comes at her with a knife and a lighter. That's her method. It evidently works for her, since she's not dead yet."

I wanted to join the conversation, but since I was sort of pre-occupied with Skye and Blaze's situation, I couldn't just up and leave the room. So I decided to be a ninja and tell my side of the conversation through Leah.

_Oi, Leah._ She jumped, as far as I could tell, and I heard her mutter, "I hate when she does this." Mentally, she attempted to chew me out. **You don't get to talk to me until you've helped get Skye and Blaze back together. I refuse to help you stall this.**

_What, Leah, you aren't happy to hear from me? That's just too damn bad for you then. I want you to know that my method has got me through a majority of my list at this point. So suck on THAT lollipop, sister._

I could pretty much see Leah scowling as she growled out loud, "Little brat. I hope that Demon sets you straight." Then she dared to chuckle. _Slore._

I crossed my arms and glared at the floor, a.k.a. Makeshift Leah. _I'd like to see him try. Who says that he's the one who CAN set me straight?_

Before Leah could attempt a reply, Seth broke the relative silence in the living room. "Leah, since you're evidently talking to Valerie, could you tell her that I'm sorry that I walked in on her and Demon and then ask her if they've gotten together yet?"

I heard a loud crunch, blinked twice, and then realized a little too late that there was now a hole where my hands had slammed onto the floor beside me. I switched heads, and made Seth wish that he'd never met me. _Seth. I SWEAR TO GOD THAT I WILL INSTILL THE FEAR OF ME IN YOU. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ON?_ I waited a second for him to recover and stop whimpering, and then continued. _Demon and I are best friends. Best friends does not equal lovers, ok? Only in the case of Max and Fang. And Mira and Shawn. And Hope and Jinx. And Blaze and Skye. And Iggy and Nudge. BUT NOT DEMON AND ME. That would be like incest. There are no feelings between the two of us other than family love, and his fear of me. So, to answer your question, NO. We have NOT gotten together. And we WILL NEVER get together. Because that would be creepy and weird and wrong. SO STOP IT._

Seth waited a few seconds, and then asked, "But then what was that thing when I came to find you and you guys were gonna kiss?"

There was another crunching sound beside me, and I looked down to realize that the twin holes in the floor had gotten bigger. I let out a sigh, and attempted to get this through Seth's VERY thick skull. _Seth, we were having a conversation. That was NOT us about to kiss._

Seth snickered. I had heard that sound too many times from Iggy to think that something good was going to come out of his mouth next. "I've had _tons _of conversations with Ella like that."

I had enough wood in my hands to kindle a fire for about 3 hours. Or perform acupuncture on the entirety of Seth's body. Deciding that it _just_ _wasn't damn worth it_ to keep up the conversation with Seth, I decided to focus back entirely on Blaze and Skye. I peeked into Skye's mind for a quick second, since she wasn't as good at detecting when I had entered her head as Blaze was.

Surprisingly, Blaze was leading the conversation. He was talking about how he never thought that she'd lie to him on such a large scale. And the idea that she could act around all of both his and her emotions freaked him out. He wasn't sure how to deal with that.

I rolled my eyes, because this was Blaze I was talking about. He had to have noticed that we were vampires with wings. If he could manage to deal with that, then he really shouldn't have had too much of a problem with the fact that Skye had, in his absence, become a wonderful actress.

But I kept listening, and I realized that Blaze was more worried about Skye having faked everything that she felt for him than just the fact that she'd picked up a new talent. Both my eyebrows rose against my will; Blaze had feelings _other_ than indifference and anger. I'd known that he'd cared for Skye, but I hadn't known that his feelings ran that deeply.

I felt a pang of that stupid feeling that was becoming _way_ too familiar these days. _Damn guilt._ Now it was going to be impossible to _not_ feel badly for him when I punched him in the gut. _Aw, shit._

I peeked back into Skye's mind, and realized that Blaze was now apologizing over and over again, because he had realized that he was a jerk to her. I looked curiously at his face, and somehow he had managed to keep it entirely blank. I had to hand it to him, he was good at the entire "emotionless butt-face" thing that he had going.

But now that he'd admitted he was a jerk, I was going to punch him a little harder, since he'd figured out what he'd done wrong.

I looked at Skye's face, and I couldn't help but let out a small half-smile. She was pretty much glowing. And her eyes were starting to tear up, but I ignored that part. I was just happy that she had cut out that emotionless, "None of this is bothering me" crap that she was trying to put on to make sure that no one thought she was hurt.

I looked up at the clock on the nightstand, and realized that 20 minutes had gone by since I had locked us in the room together. Someone moved out of the corner of my eyes, and I turned back to see that Skye had launched herself at Blaze, hugging him around the neck. He even had an arm around her. I let out a silent "Aww", and then got up to stretch. _Jeez, relationships are *way* too confusing and *way* too tiring for my use. _

When I opened my eyes again, Blaze and Skye were standing, holding hands, and staring at me. I put a hand on my hip. "So, I take it you two are back together?"

Skye smiled shyly at me, and Blaze blinked. Thankfully, I had been with the both of them long enough to know what each movement meant. I swept Skye into a hug. "Thank God." I pulled her at arms' length away from me and looked her dead in the eye. "Don't ever get depressed like that again." She smiled, still looking like she was close to tears. Feeling itchy, I decided that it was time to turn to Blaze. I turned around, and looked up at him, arms crossed. He put his hands in his pockets, looking down at me expressionlessly. I made my face entirely blank, and for a few seconds, we just stared at each other. I could hear Skye mentally praying that I didn't kill him. Then I kicked hard him in the shin, and as he doubled over, I punched him in the chest. I almost smiled at the fact that he hadn't seen that coming, but I had to get through my warning for him first.

Looking at where he was crouched down on the ground rubbing his shin, I cleared my throat at him. He looked up, and I calmly said, "If you ever try something like that with my sister again, you will find the words "heartbreaking bastard" carved into your forehead, and then you will find yourself eating your own manly bits." Skye let out something like an embarrassed squeak beside me, and I patted Blaze's rising head before moving to go around him and out the door.

Hearing his throat clear, I looked over my shoulder. Blaze had a small almost-smirk on his face, and said quietly, "Sure, chief." _Well, that's as close to an apology as I'm gonna get from him, so I might as well just go with it…_ I gave him a two- fingered salute, and then walked out, ready to kill Seth.

* * *

**_-Demon POV-_**

"Max, you can stop laughing now." It was the fifth time that I'd tried to stop her from cackling hysterically, but it looked like every time that I said it, she would start laughing even harder than before. I looked over at Fang, and sent him mental messages to get his almost- but- not- quite- girlfriend under control. He shrugged, and an almost- smile appeared on his face. **Honestly, Fang? Why are you such a half- assed bastard?**

About 2 minutes later, Max finally managed to get herself under control enough to ask, "You asked _Fang_, Mr. Emotionless himself, for _romantic advice_?" She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from bursting out into laughter again.

I glared at her, and then glared even more at Fang for not doing anything to stop Max from laughing. **Brothers. They are useless.**

He shrugged at me, as in "Eh, what can I do when she gets like this?" He looked over at her, and his face started to go soft. I fought the urge to gag.

Another five minutes went by, and Max finally seemed to get over it, because she stopped laughing entirely. She looked at me again, and then she said, "Ok, so why exactly are you getting-" she let out one more giggle, and I got up to leave.

Before I could move one step, Max had pulled me back down to the ground roughly. "Geez, stop being so damn dramatic. It's your fault for bursting in here and telling everyone your business. And stop pouting, you look like you're five. Now tell me why you're going to get advice on romance from Fang over here. Besides just to make me laugh."

I shot a panicked look to Fang, but then covered it up as soon as I could. "I'm trying to pick up chi—"

"This _is_ for Valerie, right? Because if it isn't, I'm going to have to kill you." It got really quiet really quickly, and even Fang was looking at Max in shock. "What?" She looked clueless.

"Max. You figured it out?" Fang asked, the shock even seeping into his voice. I could only stare at Max slack-jawed. "DON'T YOU HATE EMOTIONS?"

She crossed her arms and glared at the two of us. "It's not like I'm blind, kids." Fang looked awestruck, and I was somewhere between mortified and exasperated. **So that just means that Val is by far THE densest person that I know.**

I groaned and put my head in my hands, since Max knowing could _also_ easily mean that Val knew, and now she was just avoiding me. **Great…**

Fang, for the first time ever since that I'd known him, looked at me and gave me a pitying/ sympathetic look.

Max poked me in the arm and put her game face back on. "So, what's the problem here?" I let out another groan, since as far as I could tell, there was no way to make the situation better. So I just told her everything. "Fang's evidently 'tested- and- proven' method of getting the girl is completely useless."

Max's eyebrows furrowed, then shot up, like she was trying to pass herself off as indifferent. I managed a quick smile. "And just who are you trying to get, Fang?" I could hear the attempts to keep the anger out of her voice. I knew that if _I_ could hear it, then Fang sure as hell could.

Sure enough, Fang let out a low chuckle, since he was the only one who could laugh at Max out loud and get away with it. Then he pulled her onto his lap. Her squeak was as high-pitched and un-Max-like as Max could get, but Fang obviously didn't care. He just tightened his arms around her waist and tucked her head under his chin. With a smug smirk, he said, "Well who do you think, _Maxie_?"

Max's eyes widened, and she tried to get away from him. **Yeah, good luck with that, Max.** He just chuckled and held her tighter.

"Let me go, you idiot! What the fuck are you do—" She hissed, and I honestly couldn't take any more of their roundabout flirting.

"If you could just stall the foreplay until later for the sake of my virgin eyes, that'd be great. Now can we please figure out something in terms of Val's and my situation?"

Max looked like she'd be blushing, but Fang didn't even try to look sorry.

"So she didn't take the bait?" Fang asked. **Since when was Val a fish?**

I shook my head, scowling. "Would I be here if she had?" **God, I feel like a teenage girl. _(A.N. Welcome to the club…)_**

Fang looked at me closely, and then shrugged. "Probably didn't do it right. That, or you're just screwed."

I stared at him, then looked at Max (who was doing everything in her power to avoid my gaze), then back at him. I got up and walked to the door.

"Where're you going?" Max asked. I could hear the unsaid "If you leave me here, I have no idea what your horny bastard brother will do. DO NOT LEAVE ME HERE" in her voice.

Without looking back, I just raised one hand to say goodbye. "To Shawn, who _obviously_ knows what he's doing, unlike your boyfriend here. Fang, you are useless."

I closed the door on Max's protests and Fang's chuckles.

* * *

**_-Val POV-_**

"Mom, what are you doing?"

"Yeah, Val. I mean, I know you're sort of a ninja and everything, but still…"

I shushed both of them and looked out the window and into the alleyway below. As far as I could tell, no one was out there. I searched for Demon's mind, and found that he was occupied with Shawn. I briefly wondered what he was doing with him, of all people, but then shrugged. _I am never one to shoot down a distraction._ I turned around, and kissed Kami on the forehead before gripping her by the shoulders. "Listen, sweetie. If Daddy comes by, you can't tell him that I went anywhere, ok? Please? Mommy's not exactly looking forward to talking to him right now, so don't say anything, ok?" She nodded, and I ruffled her hair. "Good girl!"

I looked over at Hope and shot her a particularly venomous look. "You too, Hope."

Hope furrowed her eyebrows, and I knew that I was going to have to kill her for asking questions. "You're running away from Dem—"

I slapped both hands over her mouth. "_Not_ running away. I'm _preventing a bad situation._" Mentally, I dared her to say anything. She shut up, feeling the angry vibes that I was shooting her way.

I smiled brightly. "Good! Now that we've settled that, you've never seen me." With that, I climbed out the window and landed quietly in the alley. Looking up at the window quickly, I walked out of the alley and pulled my hood up, trying to blend in with the rest of the city. I made my way to the only place that I was almost positive that Demon wouldn't try to come and find me.

The mall. _And now you hear the organ music going "Dun Dun DUUUUUUNNNNN!"_

I quickly bought a small book bag, and then continued on my way into town. It was Friday, the sun was setting, and there were enough people around getting ready to go party somewhere to make me sort of uneasy. But anyone who was around me and noticed me gave me a circle of personal space- _I think it's the pretty face that they all keep staring at_-, so I kept pushing forward.

I made it to the stores, mentally prepared myself, and walked into the first one I saw that didn't look like someone had puked floral-print surfer gear inside of it. My hood was still up, but I could feel people everywhere giving me "WTF" looks after they saw how long my pants were and the different colors that I was wearing. Reassuring myself that the sun had already gone down and my wings were tucked in all the way, I started my hunt for a distraction.

20 minutes later, I was changing into a green T-shirt, a sleeveless green camouflage hoodie, and green shorts. I was planning on buying a pair of Timberlands, since they had always looked like good shoes to kick someone with. I stuffed the rest of my clothes into the backpack that I'd gotten earlier, and then paid for my stuff, mentally already outside and ready to keep exploring this little shopping strip.

Swiping my bangs out of my eyes, I stiffened as soon as I walked outside the store. Demon was sitting on a bench across from the store front, arms flung over the back, one eyebrow raised, and looking for all that he was worth like he was posing for some magazine.

Which was merely an observation, and had no deeper meaning whatsoever. _And I am absolutely sure that my "deer in the headlights" look is positively stunning._ "What the hell are you doing here?" Several people spun around, trying to figure out who I was barking at. A few of those people full on stopped what they were doing when they spotted Demon.

Demon changed stance, leaning toward me with his forearms on his knees. The eyebrow was still raised. I clenched my teeth. "Well that depends. What are you doing here?"

I clutched the strings of my backpack angrily. "Getting away from you and your attempts to look too far into things."

He hung his head, and chuckled. It did weird things to my spine. I decided in that moment that I never wanted Demon to laugh again. He looked up at me, and I realized that there was now a clear opening of space between us. _Great. Stupid people and their stupid love of entertainment._

"Valerie, please. Just come back so we can talk." I shook my head furiously. "Why do we have to talk? We already talked about it. It meant nothing. GO AWAY."

A murmur went through the crowd, and I heard one particularly brave person go, "So she left after a one night stand that she thinks shouldn't have happened?" _Are you effing KIDDING ME?_

Demon fixed me with a look, and I tensed, ready to run at any given moment. "If it didn't mean anything, then you wouldn't be running away from me."

I managed to downgrade a snarl to a low rumble in my chest. "I'm not running away from you."

"Val, I went to find you and I found Hope and Kami swearing up and down that they had no clue where you'd gone. And the window open. You were ready to leap out the window before you were ready to talk to me. Yeah, that's not running away." Demon snorted, then gave me a "Come on. Really?" look. I had never wanted to hit him more than I did at that moment.

He stood up at the same time that I started to walk away from him. He caught my arm before I could go anywhere. "Haze, would you just stop and talk to me?"

"Do you want the truth, a lie, or what you want to hear?" I scowled down at where his hand was preventing me from _getting the hell out of there._

He scowled down at me. "Valerie, this is getting you nowhere. Just talk to me already. _You_ kissed _me_, this shouldn't—"

I slapped a hand over his mouth. "Oi! Didn't we say that we weren't going to talk about it anymore?"

Demon glared down at me, then—"EW! Did you just lick my hand?"

Demon held my hand away from his mouth, completely ignoring me. "No, YOU decided that we wouldn't talk about it. Then you pushed me out of the room before I could say anything."

I threw my arms up. "Because I _knew_ that you were going to do this! You are **_NEVER_** satisfied with just leaving things the way that they are! You **always** have to go and figure out things that aren't even there! Jeez, if you would just **_listen_** to me, then we wouldn't **be **in this position! But **_NOOOO_**. You just had to be a-" I punched him in the chest. "PAIN-"

–another punch— "IN-"

–smack in his chest— "THE FRIGGING-"

I stomped my foot and glared up at him. "ASS!" I let out a growl when I realized that he was smirking down at me. "You stupid, smug son of a bi—"

That was, unfortunately, all that I managed to get out before he grabbed either side of my face and proceeded to kiss me. _...Well, fuck._

Surprisingly, even though we were both supposed to be dead and everything, his lips were pretty warm.  
And surprisingly pleasant.  
And surprisingly gentle.

This was all just one giant surprise for me.

…I think I smiled. _Well, shit._

I was fully ready to push him away, but then he did this very distracting thing with his mouth and one hand wrapped around my waist. So I think somewhere in that 2 second interval, I decided that I was going to kill him later. Once he stopped attacking me with his lips.

I figured that he was probably waiting for a reaction, so I started moving my lips too. Then I felt him growl, and I shivered. I felt warm all over, and then like my stomach was twisting itself into knots. _Well, that's a contradiction if I've ever felt one._ One of my hands ended up curled around something soft, and Demon's arm around my waist tightened.

After a few more moments in my pleasant bubble, Demon pulled back, nipped my bottom lip, and then gave me another kiss when I squeaked. _Later on, I will deny that I ever made that sound._

After he pulled away, I heard him say, that smirk probably still on his face, "You know, you're kind of cute when you're angry, Val. But, _God_, you talk too much."

My pleasant bubble popped, and my eyes shot open. _Oh shit._ I attempted to say it out loud, but my voice wasn't working. Suddenly, I was all too aware of the fact that there were at least 25 people watching us and going "Aww" either in their heads or out loud.  
And the small fact that Demon and I were the main attraction at the moment.  
And the fact that my hand was tangled up in his hair, with me having absolutely _no_ clue of how it had gotten there.

_Fuck fuck fuckity CRAP SHIT DAMN._

I suddenly felt the need to vomit. _Holy FUCK._

"Val? You gonna say anything?" Demon asked, but his voice sounded far away. I managed to look up into his eyes, and then everything went blank. Except for one thought: _Holy crap we just pretty much made out in front of a whole bunch of people and oh my GOD WHAT THE HELL DID DEMON JUST DO?_

I ripped my hand out of his hair, slapped it over my mouth- _Ew, still tinglyFUCK._- and tore myself out of his grip as soon as I could move my feet again. Then I bulldozed my way through the giant crowd of people who were standing there like a bunch of completely useless morons and ran as fast as I could without drawing more attention to myself. I didn't know where Demon was, and I didn't really care to know. Because if I even looked at him at this point, I was probably going to kill him.

Or rip off his lips and hope that mine would stop tingling in response. _Ugh. Watch him have given me mono or something. FUCK._

* * *

**_Sooo…yeah. \(OuO)/ - _****_The "I DONE IT! HALLELUJAH!" Smiley. He's kinda my favorite._**

**_I very much enjoyed writing Valerie in this chapter. I'm sorry for the amount of cursing that she did, but honestly, I thought it fit. Good God, I'm in SUCH a good mood. I sat in bed all day and attempted to write out this entire chapter in a organized, coherent, AWESOME fashion without tearing out my own hair (which was actually pretty difficult). It hit me at 3 o'clock in the morning in the middle of a dream exactly how I wanted the Demerie confrontation to go. And GOSH, I'm SO glad it hit me then. It's for reasons like that that I have 3 pens and 2 notebooks either in or within reach of my bed. _**

**_LESHAWNASEVILLE15. I DON'T CARE WHERE YOU'VE BEEN, ARE GOING, OR PLAN TO GO. REVIEW MY STORY, DAMMIT!_**

**_And all the rest of you, REVIEW! And don't forget to tell me if you want an epilogue or not!_**

**_Peace, love, and, "The problem with wearing your heart on your sleeve: How do you do your laundry?",_**

**_Cinnie xoxo_**


	53. Mutes, Idiots, and Liars in Love

_**-Val POV-**_

"You're kidding me, right?"

I looked up from Fang's laptop at Leah, who looked just about ready to die of laughter. I shot her a glare, but she just let out a chuckle. I growled lowly, but went back to my Google search. Leah came over and threw herself onto the bed beside me. She looked at the screen- a Google search for "How to Learn Sign Language"- and then shook her head.

"Val, eventually, you're going to have to talk to us." I furrowed my eyebrows and shook my head frantically. Talking would just prompt Demon to attempt to kiss me again, claiming that I talked too much. If there was ever something that I _didn't_ want to happen besides immediate death or being captured by Itex, then it was Demon kissing me again. I wasn't going to let Demon get any more chances to kiss me than he'd already gotten. Which was two too many.

So if that meant that I had to learn sign language to keep him from being able to use the excuse that he was "shutting me up" to kiss me, then so be it.

Leah shook her head, and then shut the laptop. I opened my mouth to yell at her, but then shut it just as quickly, glaring. _Leah, you're not allowed to try to sabotage me._

Leah grinned at me like she was getting ready to eat me. "I'm going to ignore anything that you say to me mentally. You HAVE to talk to me. I've done this with Seth since he was four." I glared at her and tried to take back the computer. She grabbed it and leapt off the bed, stuffing it behind her back as she sat against the wall.

I fought the urge to face-palm. _You know, with the way we treat that thing, it's sort of amazing that it hasn't completely fallen apart yet._

"So you want to tell me why you haven't been talking to anyone since two days ago?" Leah said, absently playing with a hole in her jeans. She looked up, and I wondered if she could feel my killer intent from across the room. She raised her eyebrow in question. "If you don't say anything, then I'm just going to start listing all the possible reasons I can think of, got it?"

_It's entirely Demon's fault!_ I sent to her, but she didn't even look like she'd acknowledged me. It seemed that Leah was more stubborn than I'd first thought. Which sort of sucked, considering I'd just told her what was wrong and then she went and said, "Ok, so you're training to become a mime."

I gave her a "Are you effing kidding me?" look, which evidently she could read perfectly well since she shrugged her shoulders and said, "Well you didn't say otherwise." _I hate her so much._

I crossed my arms, refusing to give Demon an opportunity to come in and kiss me again. Because knowing him, he probably would find some way to twist my words so that he could kiss me again. Which would mean that my lips would start to tingle again. And they had only stopped tingling two hours ago, so I couldn't just let him come and kiss me again otherwise I'd be sitting for another 2 days waiting for my lips to stop tingling like some seriously effed up spidey-senses.

And plus, you know, the fact that best friends like us weren't supposed to kiss each other, otherwise bad things would happen. Like "THE END OF THE WORLD"-type bad things. So that was a giant "NO" to both Demon's devious/ affectionate nature, and Leah's terrible plan to attempt to trick me.

"You and Fang have a bet going to see who can be the most silent for the longest time," Leah threw out another idea. I face-palmed again, and I shook my head. _I haven't even seen Fang… or Max, for that matter…EW. DON'T WANNA KNOW._

Leah looked closely at my face, and then decided, "I don't want to know what just went through your head. Ok, so…" Then Leah sighed, as though she was the one being put in the awkward situation. "Well, I wanted to save this for much later, but I can't think of anything else: Demon kissed you so hard that you lost your voice."

My eyes went wide, and I lunged across the room, slapping both hands over her mouth. "SHUT UP!" I yelled at her, and then, realizing that I'd broken my vow of silence, I slapped both hands over my mouth. I looked over at the door, and hoped to God that Demon wasn't about to come through it. "He'll say that I can't keep my mouth shut, and then he'll do it again… Oh, God…"

Leah looked at me like I was crazy and not fearing for my life at the moment. "Val, you're acting even more paranoid than you were before. And why can't I say that you two kissed?"

I slammed both hands over her mouth again, and hissed very slowly, "If _you_ want to see the light of day again, and if you don't want _me_ to die of mono, then SHUT UP."

I leapt off of Leah's lap and double-checked to make sure that Demon wasn't maniacally laughing/ on his way to give me more mono. Putting her closer to the door in case Demon decided that he wanted to bust the door down and I needed a diversion, I told Leah everything. "He wants to kill me. He wants to make me die of mono. Leah, he thinks that I talk too much, and now he wants to kill me because I didn't want to talk to him. That makes no sense. Someone tell him that makes no sense, and then tell him that he can't kiss me again. In whatever order floats your boat. Just whatever order makes his lips stay far, far away."

Leah looked at me, then at the door. Then, horrible person that she is, she started to laugh at me. "Wait, so all of this is because-" she snorted, "-Demon kissed you?" She bit down on her fist to keep from laughing out loud.

I hissed at her. "It's _not funny._ I'm going to DIE." Leah couldn't contain herself anymore and started to laugh like nobody's business. I growled lowly at her. "Fine. I see how it is. You just want me to die of mono, don't you? You're a terrible person. Go burn in a lake." _Slore._

Leah, five minutes later when she'd finally gotten a hold of herself, looked at me and asked, "Why do you keep saying that you have mono? You obviously can't get mono. You're dead."

I looked at her like she was stupid. Which, as far as I was concerned, since she didn't understand the situation, she was. "Well obviously, that doesn't matter, since my lips are still tingling from when he… um, yeah."

Leah looked at me, blinked, and then started to crack up again. Through her laughter, she managed to start asking me, "You have no—"

I interrupted her in the middle of her very unhelpful laugh attack. "What do you mean you were stalling when you guessed?" Leah chuckled for a little bit longer, and since she wasn't getting over her laugh attack any faster, I smacked her upside the head. "SHUT UP. YOU AREN'T HELPING ME WHEN YOU LAUGH."

Leah stopped laughing abruptly and rubbed the side of her head, growling at me. "Oi, no hitting when I'm enjoying your pain. Now, what was the question?"

I crossed my arms and glared at her. "What did you mean when you said that you were stalling when you guessed? Because I know that I never said anything to you before today."

Leah smirked at me, and then I really saw the resemblance between her and Seth. "Well, even though you flew through here like a bat out of hell, I could smell Demon on you, and your hands were over your mouth. Then, an hour later, Demon comes in looking half-like he wants to rip his own head off, but he couldn't stop smiling. Kind of like Iggy when he says something perverted and then gets hit for it, but worse. And then he went and played with Kami for a bit and didn't go after you, so I sort of assumed that you guys weren't going to talk about it."

I guess my horrified look was enough to prompt her that the last thing I wanted was for anyone to know that he'd kissed me, because she half-smirked and then shook her head. "Val, you really have _no_ idea what you're doing, do you?"

She was obviously not understanding this because her mind was still off in happy couple land with Jake. I was gonna have to remind myself to do something about that in the future. "What? Leah, God, how the hell are you not understanding this? I know perfectly well what I'm doing. I am going to beat him within an inch of his life, and then rip his lips off his face-"

"Val, you're not terrified at all. I can't smell a bit of fear on you."

* * *

_**-Leah POV-**_

**Wow, I'm an *idiot*.** Val's face was painfully blank, and I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck start to rise. Her fingers flared outwards, and then curled back in. I slid my feet under me, easing into a crouch, and then all of a sudden, Jasper burst through the door. Val snapped out of whatever funk she was in and turned to face him abruptly. "Shut the door! And what the hell are you doing here?"

Jasper raised an eyebrow, still looking between Val and I. "Preventing a murder."

Val yelled at him again. "CLOSE THE DOOR!" Then, she took a deep breath, and I could see the angry aura surrounding her. She turned to me, her eyes flashing black before they lightened to dark gold. She pushed her finger into my face. "Listen. You don't get to tell me how I feel or not. If I fucking say that I'm terrified, then you don't have the fucking right to try and tell me that I don't really know what I'm talking about, got it?" I raised an eyebrow, because this conversation sounded eerily similar...

Jasper was leaning against the door, his arms in his pockets and practically psychoanalyzing Val. I snorted. "Jasper, if you stare at her any longer, Alice is gonna kill you."

Jasper smiled a little, but didn't say much of anything. I sniffed the air quietly, and I tried to hold back a smirk. She still wasn't terrified, and from the look on Jasper's face, he didn't believe that she was really all that scared either.

One of us must have slipped in our thoughts, because the next thing that I knew, Val had let out a large growl that made her sound like some sort of mountain-lion/ banshee thing and stormed out of the room. I looked at Jasper, and even though the concentrated leech scent was a bit stronger now that Val had left the room, I chuckled. Jasper let out a chuckle in response, and then quietly said, "Just for the record, this is what's really happening." After he said that, I was hit with a lot of emotions. Some of them being discomfort, embarrassment, anger, happiness that was bordering on glee, a little bit of what I was pretty sure was love, and then all of a sudden I was hit with the intense urge to make out with Jake.

I got up and laughed. "Oh, this is going to be a fantastic fireworks show."

I walked out of the bedroom to look for Jake, since I had left him pretty abruptly to go in search of Valerie. What I got was a face full of Valerie's back. "Oi, chicky. Move your angry, angst-ridden ass from-"

"How did you even find us again, sweetheart? Not that I really care at this point, but honestly, this is just fantastic!" Isabella was gushing as she wrapped her arms around Nessie. Edward was smiling so wide that if he were in a clown costume I would have beaten him with a stick, and behind him by the couch Jacob and Seth were staring. Ella had evidently gone out, probably to talk with Nudge and Angel. Nessie was hugging her mother and spluttering out some crap about her lovely Aunt Rose sending her an email to tell her where they were had been. I swallowed, and Val stiffened in front of me. Nessie looked up from Isabella's shoulder and smiled happily at us. "Hi Valerie, Uncle Jasper, Leah." I nodded my head in acknowledgement, but didn't say anything. Jacob let out a sigh and ran his hands down his face. In my head, Valerie whispered, _So you both talked about it, huh?_

Abruptly, I turned around and pushed past Jasper. If I didn't get out of there, I was going to explode. I managed to strip off my shirt and pants and get to the roof before I exploded, and Valerie was three steps behind me. I let out a small growl and clenched my teeth together, shaking my head back and forth. **I'm such a fucking idiot.**

Valerie put a hand on my head after she dropped down next to me and pushed it down onto her lap. I let her, and she started to stroke my fur. I let out a sigh and got comfortable. Val was still kind of angry from the Jasper confrontation, and I could feel that when she tugged through my fur, but I didn't say anything.

Funnily enough, Val was the one to start the conversation. _Told you so._

I growled, and tried to take a bite out of her leg, because Valerie still had little to no appreciation for the word "tact", but she moved her leg out of the way in time. **Valerie, please. This isn't the time for you to go bragging how right you were, ok? **

She shrugged, and I kept my head down. Then incredibly flippantly, she asked, "Do you want me to kill him for you?"

I shrugged. **Honestly, I don't know.**

She was quiet for a second, and then her hand stilled on my back. "So, let me get this straight. You told me that you two had handled it when I asked you before, but then it turns out that you were just sort of "going with the flow" and no one actually said what would happen if she came back. These are the words that are coming out of your mouth. And then when I asked you, you got pissed at me for interrupting and possibly encroaching on Relationship Territory, with capitals. So now, very intelligent friend of mine, what the hell am I supposed to do to remedy this situation? Seeing as you evidently didn't have _half_ the mental capacity to plan when you were off playing the wolf version of House with Jacob."

I leapt off of her with a snarl. Evidently, Valerie was obviously not the person to go to when you had relationship issues, since she pretty much poured salt on the wound. **I GET IT, OK? I get that I screwed up, but you have no right to come in and tell me 'I FUCKING TOLD YOU SO' when you have the most unhealthy romantic relationship with Demon! So you tell me what the hell you're planning on doing with that, because I really don't think that you're in any bloody position to tell me anything regarding my relationship with Jacob at the moment!**

Valerie stared at me with yet another blank stare, and then she said very quietly, "Leah, you're crying."

I swiped at my eyes with my paw and laid down on the floor. I just couldn't deal with this anymore. **Not again, damnit.** Val stared at me for a while longer, and then left me on the roof by myself. I covered my eyes with my paws, and let out a long howl.

* * *

_**-Val POV-**_

"Oi, Jake. I need to ask you a question," I said, walking into the room and dragging him out by his pants without waiting for a response. Seth, who had been glaring pointedly at his Alpha from the corner of the room, nodded his head in what I took to be approval at me. I slapped a smile onto my face for Nessie's sake, telling her that I'd just be a minute as I dragged Jake away from the conversation.

As soon as I got Jake into the exercise room, I slammed my knee full force into his stomach. He doubled over and groaned loudly as he fell to the floor. I crossed my arms and glared at him. "You're just lucky that I didn't aim a little lower. Now explain to me exactly how the fuck you so royally messed up this shot with Leah."

Jacob let out a growl. "What, you think that I planned to hurt her? What kind of heartless bastard do you think that I am? It's not like I fucking planned for Nessie to come back-"

I snorted. "Yeah, well that's all well and good, but the thing that you need to fix here is that Leah is both pissed and depressed. Sure, maybe you didn't plan to hurt her, but I think that we've learned that you can't plan for shit. And Nessie's here now. So you need to grovel at her feet, swear your undying devotion, something, I don't even fucking care what. Just get Leah happy again, because I preferred it when she wasn't crying over your soon-to-be-sorry ass." I let out a final growl, then turned to walk away, as I was now satisfied with my input into the situation.

Jake, on the other hand, was not anywhere near done, it seemed. He got up from his pretty pathetic floor position, and tried to draw himself to full height without wincing. He was a bit more than half a head taller than me, but I couldn't care less. It just gave me easier access to his shins. "You think that I don't know that I screwed up? I get it, alright? I fucking just lost both my beta and my alpha fema-" His mouth snapped shut, and his fists clenched at his side. _Eww, is he blushing?_

I didn't want to hear it, and signaled for him to just shut up. "You can shove your fancy wolf titles up your ass as far as I'm concerned. Just get her happy again. Talk this through or something, I don't know. Just do _something_ about this, or I will actively hand your ass to you in a take-out box."

"WILL YOU STOP TALKING? God, Valerie, I had no fucking idea that Nessie was coming back, how much does it take to get that through your head?And I thought that it was PRETTY obvious that we weren't going to be together and that I didn't care about her ROMANTICALLY when Nessie was busy making out with Nahuel-"

"WHO THE HELL IS NAHUEL? AND _OBVIOUSLY_, YOU DIDN'T MAKE IT CLEAR ENOUGH IF LEAH IS UP ON THE DAMN ROOF CRYI-"

"Umm, Jake? Valerie?"

**"WHAT?" **Jake and I both snapped our heads towards the door, which had evidently opened during our little argument, and saw Nessie standing there with a blush. I let out a growl, and Jake managed to keep his growl in his throat as he clenched his fists and addressed her. "What is it, Nessie?" I rolled my eyes. _Yeah. Definitely didn't care at all._

She looked down at her hands and started fiddling with her fingers. I started tapping my foot, and then finally blew up at her. "If you could just hurry this up, Nessie, that'd be great-"

I was cut off by Jake's elbow digging a hole in my side. I turned my glare on him. "What?" He glared at me in return, and I wanted to claw his eyes out if he was all about showing animal dominance all of a sudden. He sighed, then ran his fingers through his hair. "She didn't do anything-"

I snorted. "Well, excuse me if I'm not exactly throw shouting 'Hallelujah' when I see her. I'm just a little pissed on behalf of my friend. And, you know, _your girlfriend_. But evidently that part doesn't matter to you anymore, does it, Jacob?"

He looked about ready to rip my head off, and I was about ready to rip his arms off, so we were somewhere along the lines of even. "You bi-"

"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you both about!" Nessie managed to somehow spit out the words that she'd been chewing on for the past few minutes. I clenched my teeth. _Now if only you could say something of use..._

"What is it, Nessie?" Jake repeated, and I muttered under my breath. "God, don't even have enough of a brain to think of something different to say, do you, Jake?"

Jake blew up at that point, and I couldn't help feeling that I'd won. "LISTEN, VALERIE-"

"NAHUEL AND I ARE TOGETHER!" I blinked confused at Jake, who evidently had not said those words since _he_ looked confused. I looked over at Nessie, and she started to blush even harder. _Oh, come on. Is that all you do?_

I crossed my arms. "So... what does that mean to us? Are you turning Jake free, is that what's happening here?"

Nessie looked like she would have loved to run screaming from the room as soon as I opened my mouth. I fixed her with a stare. "Umm... that's not the way I'd, umm, put it, but... basically?" Her voice tipped upwards nervously at the end as I stared at her, and it came out as a question instead of the statement I guess that she wanted it to be. She looked like she wanted me to be done with the questions, but I hadn't finished with her yet.

"So, what, was he your little pet? Is that it? Last time I checked, he was mainly human, Nessie." I kept my voice low and my arms crossed, because if I even moved a little bit, I was going to basically blow everyone in the room sky high.

Nessie's face was slightly pale, but she wasn't choosing to say anything, so I kept talking. "Listen, Nessie. Jake is part human, and he still has a life outside of you. You don't get to just talk down to him and "turn him lose". I don't care if you're his imprint or not: you don't speak to a person that way. You're adult enough now to date someone like Nahuel, you can figure out how to talk to people. Got it?" Nessie didn't say anything else, but her face was the palest I'd ever seen. I took that to mean that she understood, and so I turned to Jake. I had no more patience or time to spend on Nessie.

"Jake, this imprinting business is pure bull shit. I want you to go and tell your tribe leaders that they can take their imprinting and dance in a bonfire. And then, I want you to go upstairs and get your _Alpha female_, or whatever. Also, this entire shape-shifter thing is too confusing for me to keep up with. Just go fix yourself. Ok, I'm done." I raised an eyebrow and waited for someone else to say something.

After a few moments of what seemed to be awestruck/terrified silence, Jake didn't disappoint. "You..." he started, then he sort of shook his head and gave a wry smile. "I thought you hated me."

I looked at him sideways for a few seconds, and then said, "Nah, you're irritatingly attached to Leah. I can't really hate you, but I can rant for days on end about everything that you're doing wrong in a way that comes off as sort of loving. So there you go. Now, GO. Both of you!" I threw Jake out of the room by the collar on his shirt and Nessie I just stared at until she got the message. Nessie was the first to disappear, but Jake hung around a while longer to say some parting words.

"You're..." he paused for a second, searching for the next words it seemed, so I decided to help him out.

"Fan-fucking-tastic, I know." He rolled his eyes, and shook his head. Then he said, "You're just such a bitch."

The smile was what threw me as he turned and walked away. I stared after him for a second and shrugged. "...Whatever."

I closed the door behind Jake and sighed loudly. I looked up at the ceiling and muttered, "If there is even a _single_ person looking out for me up there, you will leave me with 15 minutes to myself to celebrate my evident survival of the first part of the biggest family minefield that I've ever been involved in."

Immediately after I said that, I was thrown forwards by the force of the door opening. I had to chuckle. "No one up there really likes me, do they?"

The door slammed again, and I turned around to see Max, looking pretty raggedy. I raised an eyebrow and she avoided my eyes. "I'm not here. You never saw me."

I snickered. "You and Fang need to seriously talk this out. Seriously?" Max's glare let me know: yes, _seriously_. I shrugged. "I just thought with the amount of times you two have made out, you would have figured out that you were sort of in love with each other by now. Jeez, Max, how slow are you?"

Max's eyes kept dodging mine, and it seemed like she wasn't really all there. I guessed that she was talking to the Voice, who hadn't dropped in for a while, so I tested my theory. "Hey, Max. Does the Voice know if vampires can get hickies?"

Her head snapped my way so quickly that I heard the crack. "WHAT? WHY ARE YOU ASKING?"

I shrugged. "I thought that out of everyone, you would have learned by now, what with Fang's enthusiasm. Guess not."

Max's jaw dropped, and her hand leapt up to cover her neck. "That's- you- what- AGH!" If she had been human, I got the feeling that she probably would have been bright red. _Huh. Guess that means I should try harder when I try to be random, shouldn't I, if I'm getting it right on the first try?_

I couldn't help myself: I tried for one more. "Max, please tell me that you'll at least _try_ to see the rest of us now, what with Fang's evident neck fetish. I would prefer it if you both came up for air once in a while." I could have sworn that I heard some obnoxious laughter from outside the door, but I brushed it off as irrelevant. Max full out lunged at me, arms ready to claw my eyes out, but I dodged, a bit disappointed. The teasing wasn't exactly fun when Max didn't do her over the top denial bit. I stopped short, thinking about what that would mean for their relationship, and in that time, Max managed to knock me upside the head. "STOP TALKING!"

I waved her off, trying to understand what was happening. "You and Fang are really together, huh?" _Well, this was unexpected. _I stared at her face, waiting for the answer that was going to feel absolutely surreal. If after all this time, Max was going to finally admit that she and Fang were DATING, this was going to be effing monumenta-

"No." I paused my mental rambling, replayed the syllable in my head, and then my jaw dropped. I looked at her for another moment, then grabbed her chin and pulled her face closer to me. "Ow, what are you do-"

"Shut up!" I cut her off immediately. "I'm checking for signs of drug use."

Max rolled her eyes. "Yes, because I'm obviously using drugs that no one can smell or see me plan to buy in a house full of vampires. That is definitely how that works-"

"I mean, the alternative is that you're just stupid and training to be a professional prostitute, Max. So you've got to tell me which one it is," I said, narrowing my eyes at her and letting go of her chin. Max's eyebrows furrowed as though she had no idea what I was talking about. _You had better be lying._

"Wait. Valerie. What the hell are you talking about?" Max looked generally confused, and so, to end this never-ending game of Chicken that Fang and Max had probably been playing since the day that they met, I finally talked to someone who would appreciate both my sarcasm and complete inability to deal with stupid people about a relationship that I could beat some sense into.

I smacked Max upside the head. "You are easily the most clueless person I've ever met. Now, answer the question: are you a prostitute in training?"

Slowly, Max shook her head no, and I clapped my hands together in fake-enthusiasm. "Great, that means that you actually have standards. So, that means, by default, that you and Fang are together. Right?"

Max again shook her head no, and I wanted to strangle her. "Fang and I are definitely not dating. But seriously, Valerie, what the hell are you-"

"Ok, if you and Fang aren't dating, then you are definitely a whore in training. Because I swear, Max, any person with a _decent_ amount of self-respect does not just _casually_ make out with the same person over and over again without calling him or her _boyfriend or girlfriend_!" I was trying very hard not to just grab her by the shoulders and shake her until some light bulb in her brain that probably should have gone off the _first_ time that she kissed him finally lit. But judging from the look on her face, I figured that would probably make the situation even worse.

The first words out of her mouth after that were, "WE DO NOT MAKE OUT OVER AND OVER AGAIN!"

I rolled my eyes, because she wasn't getting the point. "Max, I don't want to know whether or not you and Fang do more with each other in your little sessions, but I am going to spell something out to you because you are straight dumb when it comes to Fang: you and Fang are dating now. You've made out with him sober more than 5 times, and I know that you are not a slut. There, problem solved for you. Because when it comes to Fang, I don't trust you to make your own decisions anymore. And you obviously have no idea what the hell you're doing."

* * *

_**-Max POV-**_

I was trying to keep calm as Val was speaking, but there was nothing that was coming out of her mouth that made any sense. Especially the entire "you and Fang are dating now" business. I kind of wanted to just shake her until her head screwed back on properly.

"Val, I know exactly what I'm doing, and Fang and I are not together. I'm not crazy, but we aren't together. Fang doesn't want a relationship; I'm the girl closest in proximity to him that's around his age, so that's why he's-"

"Locked the both of you inside a room for hours on end trying to talk through all the issues that you seem to have with the idea of you two being together? Yeah, he definitely does **that** when he's horny. Really, Max, I thought that you hated BS," Val had her arms crossed and looked like she was daring me to just say something. And we all know that I don't turn down dares made by people with sarcasm issues.

"I do. Which is why I'm not listening to you until you figure out where the hell your brain went." I raised my chin, waiting for her to answer. I got the feeling that this was going to be a long conversation.

She stared in silence for a few seconds, and then her eyes narrowed. "You think that he kisses you because you're the closest girl to him?" Without even waiting for an answer, Val started cackling. _**Wonderful to know that I'm so funny.**_

After a straight 5 seconds of hysterical laughter on her part, Val finally stood back up and said, "Gimme a second." She focused on something that I couldn't see, and then she started grinning. "Alright, here we go," she muttered, and then said, _"She really loves hide and seek, doesn't she?_

_"So, what is this, time 7 that she's run away? She's staying longer, though. A good sign, I guess."_ Valerie stopped for a second and looked me dead in the eye, waiting for a reaction, I guessed. I shrugged. "Now what am I supposed to be taking from this?"

Valerie's eyes narrowed again, and she kept going, _"I just wish she'd fucking give in already... It's been years, and she still just... Well, I guess that's what I fell in love with her for. But she just can't seem to see that... How is she so completely fearless and smart and courageous in everything else but with this she just can't... Get it? And every single fucking time that we get close she just..."_

Obviously Val wasn't talking from her own view, since I was pretty sure that she was in love with Demon, not some random girl. I glanced around the room, trying to figure out where the hell she was reading this stuff fro- _**Holy shit.**_

Val smirked and finished the thought. "_Runs away..."_

I clenched my fists at my sides. "Are you out of your fucking mind?"

Val shrugged. "Actually, yes."

I could have sworn that I actually saw red for a minute. I wanted to kill Val. "Stay. Out. Of. His. Mind."

Val raised an eyebrow, and I knew that I didn't want to hear what she had to say next. "Why should I? I mean, you've already projected to him how you felt with the amount of times you ran away. I think that this time, you should get to know how Fang feels-"

"YOU CAN'T JUST READ HIS MIND LIKE THAT! THIS IS FANG WE'RE TALKING ABOUT! IT'S PRIVATE!" I wasn't sure if shouting at Valerie was going to help things any, but it sure as hell made me feel better.

Val's face didn't change. "It's not like he tries to hide it from you, Max. It's pretty damn obvious; he practically projects it every time that he sees you. I'm just repeating what you already know." She added a shrug at the end just to piss me off.

"No, I fucking don't know. And stop shoving Fang in my God-damn face, ok? He's a big boy; he can handle himse-"

I was cut off by the sarcastic laugh that Valerie does when she's pissed at something and wants to piss off someone else. "God, Max, do you _hear_ yourself? NO, HE _CAN'T_ HANDLE HIMSELF! NOT WHEN IT COMES TO YOU, YOU IDIOT! ARE YOU BLIND?"

"NO, I'M NOT BLIND! But _you're_ completely blind to the fact that Fang can handle himself; I've known him all my life, and I think I would have picked up on that by now. Worry about Demon instead of Fang, all right? You're pretty damn blind to _that_." _**When in doubt, you shove your opponent's problems back in their face. It usually gets the job done and the subject changed.**_

Valerie's damn eyebrow finally went down as she started to glare at me. _**Good, the urge to rip your arms out has gone down a bit.**_ "This isn't about Demon and I. Demon has nothing to do with this, and that issue is not even slightly similar to the soap opera that you and Fang have going on. So you need to shut your damn mouth about that."

"Oh, did I hit a nerve, Val? Hmm, kinda sucks to be on the other end of that, doesn't it? With people trying to tell you all about yourself?" I folded my arms, waiting for what fabulous sarcastic response Val would have to give to that. _**What are you gonna pull out of your ass this time, sis?**_

Val glared at me for a little longer, her eyes having gone pitch black, and then she abruptly turned around. "Fine." _**Wait, what?**_ She didn't look at me as she pulled her iPod out of her pocket and hooked it up to the speakers. "Forget everything that I just said. You evidently don't need it."

I blinked. This wasn't like Valerie even a little bit. But I wasn't about to complain. "Don't worry, I will."

"Good. Now I'm going to just forget about the rest of you for a while, because you give me more stress than I even know what to do with." She started stretching, and then somehow got super in time with Lady Gaga and doing all these weirdly cool dance moves. _**Since when did she know how to dance?**_

She shrugged as she did this really intense body roll that I could feel my back creak. "I took a few classes for hip-hop when we were still in Canada. The rest of it is just moderated fighting skills."

I stayed and watched her for a little while longer, and I wasn't exactly sure what I was waiting for but I was pretty sure that she was waiting for something. _**God, I hate the feeling of impending doom...**_

Finally, I broke the relative silence. "So..." _**Did I say that I broke it? I meant that I just awkwardly acknowledged the fact that neither of us knew what to say to each other.**_

Val stopped the song and then said, "Max, dance with me."

I blinked twice and then shut down that idea immediately. "You're out of your mind. I'm leaving."

Val sort of chuckled. "Max, I don't think you understand. I asked you, but I was really telling you dance with me."

"I don't dance; I flail like a madwoman. We're not doing this, for the sake of my pride and your eyes. If you really loved your eyes, then you wouldn't do this to yourself. Good God, I'll blind you. I have no rhythm." I wasn't about to try this. I was going to sit here and I was going to just ignore everybody until I was sure that Fang had cooled off and I didn't have to avoid him anymore.

"But you're a vampire now, so none of that matters since you have the grace of somewhere around 50 gazelles," She shot back, then she completely ignored everything that I'd said to her. She pulled me up by the arms as _You and I_ came up on the stereo, and then did something very sexy-looking that I was absolutely positive I was not going to be able to do with my hips anytime soon.

"Val, this is impossible. There is no possible way that someone as un-soulful as me is ever going to be able to- WHY ARE YOUR HANDS THERE?" I had been in the middle of lecturing her when all of a sudden, her hands were on my waist and I nearly bit her. I repeatedly smacked her hands until she let go. "I do not need you man-handling me, all right? I get enough of that from Fang..."

Val rolled her eyes, and surprisingly didn't comment on the Fang thing. "Look, just pretend that you're twirling a hula-hoop. Good God, I'm never going to be able to take you dancing with me..."

"Yes, because I so desperately want to go dancing with you that- wait a second, I'm doing it," I looked down at my hips, which had somehow sucked some of Val's rhythm out of her. Val stood back and smirked. "Told you. Now follow me for a second."

_**There are several things in my life that I never expected; being able to actually move my hips in an acceptable way was definitely one of them. You know, somewhere after the entire "turning into a vampire" business.**_

I spent the next fifteen minutes mimicking Val's movements and actually doing a decent job until I heard a, "Well, this is unexpected."

I spun around, and my heart nearly leapt out of my throat. _**SHIT.**_ "How many times have I told you to stop doing that?" I asked, trying to keep calm about the entire situation.

Fang raised one eyebrow coolly, as if he didn't know what I was talking about. _**I'm going to shoot him. **_ "Doing what, breathing?" Then, without taking his eyes off of me, he turned his head in Val's direction and said, "Thanks. Got it from here."

The music cut off, and I snapped my head around to watch Val stick her iPod into her pocket and nod at Fang. Under her breath, as she passed me, she chuckled and said, "Let's see who's blind now." My eyes widened when I got her meaning, but at that point, Fang and I were the only ones left in the room. _**Fuck shit crappity crap damn.**_

Fang was still standing with his back facing the door, which made it pretty much impossible for me to get past him. There were no air vents in the room for me to crawl through, and there was one window, but Fang was also aware of it as his eyes kept shifting from me to my only chance of escape.

Trying not to panic too much, I took a deep breath and crossed my arms in front of me. I looked him dead in the eyes and tried to get this over with as soon as humanly possible. "What is it, Fang?"

Fang put his hands in his pockets, and my eyes were drawn to the muscles on his arms unconsciously. I caught myself after a few seconds and turned my eyes away sharply, letting out a short exhale. _**This used to be so much easier before he fucking turned pretty.**_

_How much easier, Max?_ The Voice chimed in shortly, and before I could tell it off properly, I felt the presence leave my mind, so I was left scowling at the air.

"Wondering when we'll be able to get over this, Max." Fang's voice pierced through the silence of the room, and I knew just from the overly cool tone of his voice that looking into his eyes meant death. _**Lovely. I have a Chinese cookie in my head, and a hormonally unstable, pissed supermodel ready to make my head explode.**_ I briefly wondered about the supermodel comparison for Fang, but I shook it off. _**Might as well call 'em like you see 'em.**_

I brushed my hair out of my eyes, and focused on a spot just above his right shoulder. "Over what, Fang? I don't think that we have anything that we really need to get over."

Fang chuckled darkly. "Of course you'd think that, Max. If the situation involves us and any bit of feelings, you try your hardest to believe there's no problem, even when you're running away."

I sucked in a breath and let it out just as quickly. Deep intakes of breath were weaknesses in front of Fang, and like hell I needed him taking that and running with it. So I clenched my teeth hard and dove headfirst into the offense. "Oh, please, Fang. You're just doing this because I'm not cooperating with the plan."

I dared to look Fang in the eyes again, waiting for his reaction, and the look on his face was not what I expected. If anything, he looked kind of amused. _**Ok, so that was not a face that I expected to show up when I was talking to him. **_"And just what, exactly, is my plan, Max?"

I will admit that the almost-smiling was throwing me for a loop, but I kept going, because it was highly likely that Fang was bluffing. "I'm the only girl in the vicinity that knows about everything- the wings, the vampire stuff, the stick up your ass- and hasn't gone running. To you, I'm just here so you don't explode from being a horny teenage boy." I finished off my statement with a glare, and waited for Fang to come up with a retort.

Fang's face went from amused to confused for a split second, then he looked really annoyed. Or, at least, annoyed for Fang. I smirked, glad to have finally got a one-up on Fang. "What, annoyed that I figured you out?"

Fang's head dropped to his chest, and then he groaned. When his head came back up, he still looked annoyed. I mentally patted myself on the back. "No, I'm actually in awe that someone as smart as you can be so incredibly stupid."_**Excuse me, what?**_

"What?"

Fang took two steps closer, and I took two steps back. "You are a complete idiot, you know that? You think that all this is because you're the most convenient thing possible?"

I narrowed my eyes. He somehow thought that he could salvage this, evidently. "Fa-"

"Nope. You're shutting up and you're listening to me for once in your life." He took a deep breath in, and then let it out. I was not going to let his distractions get to me. He ran a hand over his face, and then started trying to explain himself. "Max, you're a complete idiot when it comes to how I feel, all right? If I wanted another girl, I could have done that when we were still alive. Hell, I could do it right now if I wanted to. But I'm not, ok? Because I thought that you would have picked up on the small fact that I sort of like you a lot more than as a casual make-out buddy, but evidently, you're just kind of stupid when it comes to things like that."

As he was lecturing me, I couldn't help but remember what Val had said he'd been thinking earlier: _How is she so completely fearless and smart and courageous in everything else but with this she just can't... Get it?_

Fang must have noticed the pre-occupied look in my eyes, because he took me by the shoulders and forced my attention back to him. "What are you trying to over-think now?"

I didn't answer him, trying to figure out how the hell to answer a rant like that. Fang took advantage of my silence and kept talking lowly. "Well, now that we've got that all figured out..."

It took about 2 seconds after he pressed his lips to mine again for the God-knows-what time, but my brain finally figured out what was happening outside of my head and I pushed him away. Fang groaned out loud and his eyes bored into mine, searching for... well, something. I felt my stomach flip twice in response. "What now, Max? What else could there possible be for you to sa-"

I waved a hand in front of his face, trying to gather my thoughts. "Shut up. You're making it hard for me to think."

Fang's eyes narrowed, and somewhere under all the annoyance, I could see something that looked like anxiety. _**Huh, well, whaddaya know? He's actually freaking out a bit, too...**_ "The last time that you thought, you came up with something completely out of left field-"

"SHUT UP! I'm trying to... piece something together, all right?" I managed to run through every single feeling that I'd ever had involving Fang that I'd buried somewhere deep in the back of my mind in a box that was probably labeled "DO NOT OPEN: EMOTIONAL HOT MESS INSIDE" in a matter of seconds, and somehow came to a conclusion. _**Well, shit. That was unexpected.**_

When I came back to reality, Fang was still staring at me. I looked all over his face, and suddenly felt the need to look away embarrassed. "I guess I... kinda sorta...um... like you... a bit more than I... um... originally planned..."

There was complete silence as I clenched my fists at my sides as I waited for a reaction from him. I got a bit impatient as I looked stubbornly at his shoulder. "Jeez, did you even hear what I sa-"

I was suddenly pulled into a hug, and I hesitantly put my arms around him too. We stood there _hugging_- _**What the fuck is going on?**_- for a few seconds, then Fang started to chuckle. He murmured into my hair, "That was the most half-assed confession I've ever heard."

I tried to push him away, but only got far enough away that his arms were still around my waist loosely. "Not like you've heard a lot of confessions before, I ho-"

I was cut off again by Fang's lips, and I leaned into the kiss. When we stopped kissing a few minutes later, I smiled a bit, but then frowned.

"You've got to stop interrupting me."

"Yeah, yeah. You know you love it."

* * *

_**Meanwhile, in another room of the apartment...**_

_**-Val POV-**_

"So, we're all cool now?" I asked, looking around at everyone in the room, who nodded at different times. While I was forcing Max and Fang to sort out all of their issues, I had called a meeting between all of the various family members who still weren't talking to Skye and me and answered everyone's questions a lot more calmly than the first time that I'd called a meeting. We'd managed to get everyone's questions answered, and I got some smiles out of Iggy and words out of Nudge for the first time in what seemed like ages.

After my little group therapy session, I slumped back into the chair whose arm I'd been sitting on and stared up at the ceiling. Kami came over and crawled onto my lap, and Mira came over and sat beside me on the floor.

"So you've fixed everything on your list?" She asked, and I turned my head to look at her, wondering how she knew. Anticipating my question, she said, "Leah ranted enough times about you finishing with everything on your checklist that I figured out that you had one. A list, I mean."

Mentally tired, I stroked Kami's hair and nodded. "I've covered everything on the list. I'm officially done. I don't think you understand how tired I am."

"Sorry to add this to your list again, then." Mira and I both looked over at the doorway, and I groaned while Mira chuckled. Demon was leaning against the doorway, looking at Kami and I in the armchair. Mira looked between the two of us and said, "I had a feeling she was lying. Good luck then, Demon." Then she got up and left me alone with the final thing on my list.

Kami had curled up on my stomach, and I positioned myself that she was in between Demon and I. Demon gave me a look that told me that he knew exactly what I was doing, but I ignored it. Hopefully, having Kami between us would make him think twice about messing with me and touching all of this emotional crap again.

We were quiet for a while, and Kami's soft breathing was the only noise for about 15 minutes. Then, Demon started up again. "You ran away."

I rolled my eyes. "Brilliant deduction, Sherlock. Want a cookie?"

His eyes narrowed at me, and then he looked down at Kami, seemingly checking himself. _Yes, the plan is working._ "You seemed perfectly fine when we were actually kissing. I can't think of any reasons why me ending the kiss should have caused any proble-"

I slapped a hand over his mouth and glared at him. "Do you have to say it out loud?" I whisper shouted, trying not to wake Kami. Demon shrugged, and his other hand came up to take my hand from his mouth. "I thought we were going to lay it all out on the table."

I shook my head frantically. "Only the important information, you idiot. Not everyone in this house needs to know what happened."

Demon nodded, then seemed to think about something for a few minutes. Just when I thought it was over, he said very clearly, "I'm kind of in love with you."

The temperature in the room went up about 15 degrees, and I found myself on the other side of the room with Kami somehow still on the couch. "What the hell was that?" I whisper shouted at him.

He looked completely calm, but I could see the tenseness in his fingers as he stroked Kami's hair. "Well, I know that you like things blunt, so-"

I could tell even now that I was not going to make it through this confrontation alive. "Ok, I'm gone."

Demon was suddenly hanging onto one of my arms, preventing me from leaving. "What's wrong, Haze? All I did was tell you that I'm in love with yo-"

"STOP REPEATING IT!" I almost screeched, but somehow managed to keep at a slightly lower volume. I tried to rationalize my way through the situation. "You're not really in love with me."

Demon rolled his eyes. "Oh, for God's sake..."

I kept going. "You're confusing love and fear. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. You're not actuall-"

"Val, you don't get to tell me how I feel about you. Besides, I think that I'd know, seeing as I've known for a while now." Demon said calmly, as opposed to me, who was freaking the freak out. "And no matter how many times you deny it, it's not going to disappear."

I tried a different tactic. "You only kissed me to shut me up. If I didn't talk so much, then we wouldn't be in this situation."

"Val, you and I both know that this was coming since way before the kiss happened, all right? The kiss just made this come a little bit sooner, since I'm pretty sure that some point or another I probably would have kissed you just for the heck of it. Also, you kissed me first, let's just put that out there." Demon looked like he'd thought this entire situation out before- _Ha, like you really know me that well, you little cheat..._- and I hated that I was now floundering around trying to figure out a way to get out of this terrible, horrid situation.

"Ok, so maybe there were some issues that we needed to sort out before the kiss. Also, I only kissed you then to get us out of a bad situation. We could have been dead!"

Demon rolled his eyes- _Stop doing that, God dammit!_- and drawled, "Yes, because you absolutely _had_ to kiss me in order to convince the Volturi that you were on their side. That's how _that_ worked. _Oh, wait_..."

I punched him in the arm and tried to fight back. "Marcus was already onto us! He could see relationships and he thought-" I bit my tongue as I thought over what I was going to say, which would probably only give Demon more fuel against me.

Demon raised an eyebrow. "Marcus thought what?"

I avoided his eyes and muttered, "Nothing. Just..._something_ that I'd seen in his thoughts..."

Demon looked too smug for me to be entirely comfortable. "Something about us being in a romantic relationship?" When he saw my horrified questioning look, he said, "I asked Edward a while back what exactly each of the Volturi could do." _Note to self: kill Edward._

I shook my head frantically. _When in doubt, deny everything._ "No, he didn't see that." Demon didn't look like he believed me for a second, but it didn't matter because I wasn't going to say anything else on the subject. He shrugged, and then he said, "Eh, whatever. It doesn't matter, because you think I'm handsome."

If I'd had anything in my mouth at the moment, I would have done a spit take. "I DO NOT THINK THAT YOU'RE HANDSOME!"

Demon shook his head again, that "I know something you don't" smile that pissed me off still on his face. "That's not what Skye said." _Note to self: kill Skye._

I clenched my teeth, and decided that denial was evidently doing nothing for my argument that there was nothing going on between us. "Fine. So _hypothetically_, I think you're handsome. Then what?"

His smile turned unexpectedly soft, and one of his hands reached out and grabbed mine. "I know that you like me too." _HOUSTON. WE HAVE A FUCKING PROBLEM._

I shook my head frantically and tried to remove my hand from Demon's. "Where the hell did you get that idea?"

Demon shrugged, that twinkle that I couldn't really say that I liked but did weird things to my brain in his eyes. "Oh, you know, here and there." He looked down at the floor as if he and it had shared some secret joke that I'd completely missed.

I looked pointedly away from him and tried to keep going, even with his hand now intertwining our fingers. _Oh, good God, what cheesy romantic comedy are we in?_ "Well too bad for you and your "here and there", because we're just best friends. I don't love you."

Demon chuckled at me. "Liar."

"I AM NOT LYING! STOP SAYING THAT I'M LYING! I THINK I'D KNOW IF I WERE LYING!"

Demon waved off my blowing up and turned my face toward him by grabbing my chin. "Look me dead in the eyes and telling me that you don't love me too."

I bit my tongue. "What cheesy romantic comedy are you ripping this off of?"

Demon chuckled, but didn't let go of my face, even as I felt the chills run up and down my spine. _Inconsiderate bastard._ "Just try and tell me, Haze."

I shut up for a second, then steeled my gaze. "I don't lo-"

"Liar." Demon swooped in and gave me another kiss, this one much sweeter than the other one that we'd had, but I pushed him away all the same. _Regardless of how many times my chest feels like it's about to burst open..._

"YOU DIDN'T EVEN LET ME FINISH!"

"Eh, didn't need to. I knew you were lying. It was in your eyes," Demon said nonchalantly, looking not-too-subtly at my lips. Wiping my mouth quickly, I glared at him. "HAVE YOU BEEN LISTENING TO ANYTHING THAT I'VE BEEN SAYING?"

Demon shrugged. "Yes, but it wasn't like you were making any sense."

I groaned and pulled at my hair. "You are a bloody idiot."

Demon was quiet for a second, and then started again, one hand cupping my neck. "Look, just... give me a chance, all right? We're best friends, so I'll know what's good and what's not. I'm in love with you, and I have no idea what the hell to do with myself. And there's something in me that's telling me that you're **it**, as stupid and cheesy as it sounds. And if I ever screw up, you can beat me up and tell me "I told you so", ok? Just... try us out?"

I looked onto his eyes, and for some stupid reason, I felt my heart do a stupid little swollen flip. _Aw, shit. That's not a good sign._ I didn't say anything, and I tried to keep my facial expression from falling apart into the overwhelming sense of glee that was spreading through my body for some reason or another...

...Ok, yeah, so I knew. Shut up, all right?

Before I could say something else, Demon was over by the chair waking Kami up. She rubbed her eyes blearily and then focused in on Demon. "Yes, Daddy?"

Demon picked her up and then asked, "Do you think that Mommy should give Daddy a chance?"

Kami looked between Demon and me a couple of times, and then put her hands on her hips. "Mommy, give Daddy a chance," she said bossily, and I couldn't help but smirk at the two of them.

Demon's face was still looking sort of hopeful, and I couldn't seem to look at him without wanting to smile. _Ugh, stupid face._ I whispered, "Come here?"

Demon walked over, and I pulled him down by the collar and kissed him full on the lips. I felt my wings flutter a bit, and at the same time Demon smiled into the kiss. Kami cheered, and then we were interrupted by someone's throat clearing. "Ahem?"

Fang and Max were standing in the doorway, holding hands and smirking. "Is this a bad time?"

Demon and I rolled our eyes. I just couldn't stop smiling. "Oh, shut up."

* * *

_**I'm thankful for a lot of things, but I'm incredibly thankful for all of you who stuck through with me to the end of this epic. Dancing with Fire has been my baby for almost 3 years now, and without you all, the readers, I don't know what I would have done. I remember when this story was just a fetus, and now I'm done; it's all grown up. I was thinking of an epilogue, but I don't think that I'm going to go through with it. I feel like this is a good, final note.**_

_**I'm crying as I type these words, but I'm glad that I finally finished.**_

_**Thanks, you guys.**_

_**Peace, love, and endless ink,**_

_**~Cinnie xoxo**_


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